RWBY: Grimm Horizon
by Colonel Zultan
Summary: Team SEAL has a lot to deal with in their first year at Beacon Academy; much more than any first year should. Behind the antics of The White Fang exists a much greater issue. One that, if not addressed, could spell doom for Vale and the other three kingdoms. Cataclysm is on the horizon and a team of first year Huntsmen and Huntresses are the first line of defense.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is my first RWBY fan fiction. I want to but all this in front of my story while its actually in my head still. I want to thank RejectedKnight34 for his amazing series, "RWBY: Sunshine and Shadows". He's a fantastic writer and has given me no shortage of inspiration for my own stories. That being said, RWBY: Grimm Horizon will reference events in both his story and the actual show. As I both work and am in school, there will be really no set schedule for posting chapters (plus I still don't really know how to use the site that well) so just check back occasionally. Feel free to PM me, I do respond to all and don't be shy to leave any sort of comment either. Thank you all. Colonel Zultan._

RWBY: Grimm Horizon

Chapter 1: Welcome to Beacon

"My little sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" Aaron watched as the boisterous blond chick across the airship hugged and smothered a red cloaked girl who was apparently younger than everyone else on the ship. She stepped back from her sister and Aaron was able to get a full look at the blond's... well, "impressive figure" didn't seem to do her justice, he thought. The two girls continued to talk to each other but Aaron pulled his scroll out and plugged his massive headphones out and all the conversations around him just faded away into a double bass-drum line followed by a metal core breakdown which caused Aaron's adrenaline to spike. He couldn't help but smile as he sat back against the window and began to play along on his own guitar, "Jimmy" as Vale spread out underneath him. _What a gorgeous city_, he thought to himself. His fingers started moving faster as the song's solo approached it's climax. _What I wouldn't give to play a concert in this city. But I'd need a band first. _He frowned to himself at that fact, he'd been playing solo for a long time but now that he was attending the prestigious Beacon Academy, he was hopefully that he kind find some other huntsmen and huntresses to start a band with in-between missions and classes. He closed his eyes and became lost inside his music; his only links back to the real world being the small air vent above his head and the cool plexiglass window he leaned against. He didn't even notice the hologram of Glynda Goodwitch welcoming the incoming freshmen to the Academy nor did he notice the small wolf-faunus girl looking at him shyly from a couple yards away.

Lily starred at the guitar-player intently, her wolf-tail wagging slightly underneath her jacket. Her daydream was rudely interrupted by the sounds of someone throwing up all over the ship's floor. Lily grimaced a disgusted look and moved away towards the windows. Beacon was in view now and Lily wanted nothing more than to soak in the view. Growing up in a tribal region of Vacuo, she had never flown much in her life and it made her 18 year old mind revert 10 years. She stepped back, startled, from the windows as the airship's massive wings began to turn and fold in preparation for landing. Two Bullhead VTOLs screamed by as the other airship also prepared to dock with Beacon's cliff-side port. Her tail began wagging wildly as her excitement grew. The ship landed with a gentle THUNK that could be felt through every inch of the ship. Lily looked over at the guitar player to make sure he was aware that hey had landed. He was already standing up with his guitar strung over his back. His large headphones were still on his head. He wore a vintage, black leather bomber jacket with wool liner around the neck and inside. He wore a band teeshirt underneath but Lily couldn't make out which one; all she could see was a dripping, green octopus tentacle. He also wore a pair of slightly tattered blue jeans along with a pair of black combat boots with white laces. She looked up at his face again and saw that he was looking at her too. Their gazes met and she wiped around to face away from him as her face turned a bright flush crimson. The doors opened and as everyone filed outside, Lily's embarrassment quickly went away as she crossed the threshold of the airlock and out into the large courtyard of Beacon Academy. A gentle breeze tugged at her neatly braided ponytail and she closed her eyes and turned her head to the sky. _Lily Fotia, _she thought to herself, _today is a new beginning. Today we take the world by storm!_ She then reached up towards the sun and grabbed it with her fist.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: I apologize for the brief nature of the first chapter. I was pressed for time and I really wanted to get something posted. _

Chapter 2:

The earbuds Evan wore completely blocked out all the sound from the incoming freshman scurrying about trying to figure out where to go on their first day at Beacon. He was a first-year himself but due special circumstances Evan Gwryddlas had arrived at Beacon several months earlier than his classmates. He sat in a window on the third floor of the lobby at looked out at the courtyard as students continued to flood in from the ships. One pair of girls stood out in the crowd among the others. One had bright yellow hair that almost glowed in the early afternoon sunlight. She pulled a red hood over the head of her companion. _Sisters maybe? _

They continued to talk for a short while before the yellow one dashed off with another group of people. _Well that was certainly rude. _The red-hooded girl was spun around in confusion and fell back into the large luggage cart that some white-haired girl was transporting. _Who the fuck needs THAT much luggage? Some people are so materialistic._ The red girl was still stunned as the white-haired girl was visibly scolding her with pointed gestures and small clouds of red dust. _Hahaha watch this ice queen._ Soon after Evan had completed his thought the red girl leaned back and sneezed a rather substantial explosion. Evan nearly fell out of the window from laughing so hard. "I fucking called that," he said aloud. _Thats what happens when you act like a little bitch._ He gathered himself again to continue observing the incoming students, which had mostly all gone inside. He noticed a rather large character with an equally large shield on his back walk through the front doors.

_I wonder what his deal is? Doesn't look like much. _The Dust in Evan's right arm began to return to its natural matte cyan color. This was it's normal state but Evan thought it looked better when it glowed. He stood up and jumped over to the balcony on the second floor. He took one of the lamps on the wall and unscrewed the LED bulb inside of it. He then proceeded to jam his hand into the power socket. The electricity flowing into his arm hurt like hell but he didn't mind. The tattoo that spanned his arm began to glow again and he smiled a smug grin. _Perfect. _

Spencer noticed the lights flicker for a moment as he was making his way through Beacon's large entrance lobby. There were streamers and balloons strung up everywhere along with signs written by the upperclassmen that said things such as "Welcome to Beacon" or "Make it a Great year". All most likely written by a small group of over excited brownnosers. People were starring at him as he walked past them. Well... not so much him as much as the enormous weapon he carried on his back.

Any average person wouldn't be able to lift the ridiculous shield/battleaxe/.50cal canon hybrid. However, Spencer's semblance, Gravity, made lugging the monstrosity around 50 times easier. Spencer reached for his scroll to check the initiation schedule but was interrupted by a small voice behind him. "Uhm, excuse me."

Spencer turned to see a small wolf-eared and tailed faunus girl with a long, braided ponytail looking at him shyly. "Yes," he said.

"My name's Lily, Lily Fotia. I was wondering if you could help me with unboxing my weapon. They wouldn't let me on the airship with it so I had to check it."

"Sure, lead the way."

Spencer couldn't help but stare at the bushy wolf tail she sported as she lead him back outside. The courtyard was now empty as all the students were focused on finding the auditorium and getting lost in the process. Spencer noticed a rather large crate leaning against a light post near the air-port.

"This is it here. Its just too heavy for me right now," Lily said with a rather solum tone to her voice.

"I'll make short work of this." Spencer focused his aura around the five foot crate and then poured enough of his semblance into it so it would hover a few inches above the ground. He then focused on the four nails that were quickly pounded into the lid before departure. Suddenly the nails became so heavy they shattered the cheap wood as they firmly embedded themselves into they ground and rather large Nodachi Sword fell out.

Lily's face became a shinning ball of excitement as she was reunited with her sword that was easily as big as she was. She picked it up with ease and hugged the blade.

"If you can move that Nodachi so easily, then why couldn't you unbox it?"

"I can carry Igneus Lilith no problem, it was just the box I couldn't handle. Thank you though, I didn't catch your name."

"Spencer Gurin. I look foreword to our time here."

_Author's Note: And that introduces the members of Team SEAL. Next chapter, "Emerald's Break". _

_Thank you so much for reading._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Emerald's Break

"Would all first year students please report to the auditorium."

Aaron pulled his bass-boosted headphones off of his head and looked around the hallway for any sign that might lead to the required destination. _That ain't cool how they hack into private audio feeds to deliver their damn announcements. I was in the middle of a good song. _Goodwitch's advisement had been broadcasted over the central PA system as well as spliced into private devices via the WiFi signals. A clever bit of software engineering Aaron had to admit.

Aaron turned 180 degrees and started down the hall but his stride was stopped by the sight of a bright red headed girl clad in gold with a shield on her back. Aaron decided he would ask her for directions, and maybe flirt a little bit. "Hey there gorgeous," he eyed her with a smug yet charming grin, "I was wondering if you happened to know which way the gathering is."

"I believe the hall in question is down this way," the red and gold woman pointed down the hallway in the direction that Aaron had already been going.

"Thanks babe. My name is Aaron Khan. What might your name be?"

"Pyrra Nikos. Its a pleasure to meet you."

"Pyrra, as in THE Pyrra Nikos? Holy shit! I've studied your swordplay throughly, you're freakin' famous ya know that?" _And there goes any chance I might have had with her. Oh well, probably best not to aim too high on the first day. _

Pyrra's mood visably sank back into a less happy one but smiled anyway. "I'm flattered. I hope we get the chance to spar sometime."

"Yeah, I'd love that." The auditorium doors were in view now and the pair stepped into the doorway. "Well it was nice meeting you Pyrra, see ya round." And with that Aaron left her near the entrance and found his way up towards the front of the massive room. He looked up as the green clad, grey haired man tapped the mic and began speaking.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge; to hone your craft and aquire new skills and when you you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look at you and all I see is wasted energy; in need of propose... direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledgewill only take you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." The headmaster then walked off stage and Goodwitch stepped up to the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed." With that, Goodwitch left the stage as well and the crowd of first-years began to slowly disband.

Aaron reached around his back and pulled Jimmy around to the front of him. As he exited the auditorium he began to tighten and tune Jimmy's strings. _Tomorrow we show 'em how it's done. _

Evan sat on his sleeping roll which he had placed in the corner of the ballroom so that he could see everyone else with a panaramic eye. He leaned against the wall wearing a red V-neck cut-off shirt and a pair of grey and black plad flannel lounge pants. His noise-cancelling earbuds shut out the growing comotion between the White-haired hieress and the Red/Yellow sisters. "She's a hazard to my health," were the few words he could read from her lips. He closed his eyes and laid back as the chillstep he was listening to dropped. Evan loved of his skull rattling to the soothing wubs. Next thing he knew it was 4am and his Lightning Dust tattoo had faded to a dull blue glow. He pulled the earbuds from his head and found that the hall was deathly silent save for the pockets of snoring and the air vents blowing overhead. Evan let his mind wander until sleep took him again. As sleep was about to take him, his mind fell back to the events that brought him to Beacon in the first place.

**_Author's Note: I know, they keep coming out short, but my trains of thought are de-railed easily. I promise the next chapter will be a bit longer. After that, look foreword to some sick-ass action. Next time, "Origins: The Black and Blue Adder"._**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Origins: The Black and Blue Adder

"...that being said the first person you make eye contact after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Evan snapped back to reality at this statement. _You're kidding me... the first person I make eye contact with? Fuck that. _He looked to his left as student after student began flying into the air towards the Emerald Forest. _Well shit..._

Evan found himself flying through the air with no real idea of how he was going to land. _Well this is it. I'm going to go out like a shot pheasant. Even after all I went through to get here._

Born to an average family in suburban Atlas, Evan Gwyrddlas never considered he had the capacity to become a huntsman. An artist and techhead by nature, he attended The Atlesian School of Technology and Creative Arts (ASTCA) where he graduated at 16, youngest in his class and forth overall. Atlas is known for having the largest standing military in Remnent and to bolster this they send recruiters to all types of schools to find men and women of all skills.

After graduation one such recruiter approached him about enlisting. "I think ya got the steam to do whatever you want," he said, "we could use a mind like yours. What do you say son?"

"I want to be a pilot," Evan stated rather bluntly, "I've always loved aircraft."

The recruiter couldn't help but grin at Evan's frank response. He reached into his pocket and produced a small, plastic buisness card emblazened with the Atlesian national symbol and handed it to Evan. "Call that number and we'll get you set up," he said. Evan put his hands at his side and bowed to his new superior before shaking hands with the soldier. "Sargent Glenn Rose, I look foreword to working with you."

The trees got nearer and nearer to Evan and he reached out for a lone branch to try and slow his fall. The force nearly pulled his arm from its socket but he had slowed down a little, but not enough. He was still falling. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain that he was about to experience. When no loud crack or feeling of being broken apart came Evan opened his to see that he was hovering about a foot of the ground. _My semblance only reacts this way to electromagnets. How am I...? _Almost sensing his thoughts a loud cough alert Evan towards his savior. A largly built man with an enormous shield-contraption on his back. He had a round and largely unshaven face with black hair that barely touched his ears. His armor had an almost antique look to it in the way that it was scaled. Sheets of folded, green and silver irridesant metal were woven into a piece that Evan thought belonged in an art museum rather than a battlefield.

"Name's Spencer Gurin, you're welcome by the way."

With that, Evan's chest began convolsing from the overclocked dose of adrenaline his body gave him in light of his ALMOST death. _Shit, here we go again. Wonder how long I'll be out this time._ Evan's eyes closed as he went into cardiac arrest in front of his new, shocked, and confused teammate.

After a year of basic combat training and acedemic studies, Evan Gwyrddlas was no closer to becoming cleared for flight status. He had mysteriously and accidently shorted out seven seperate simulators as well as two actuall training aircraft. His CO, who also happened to be the same man who recruited Evan in the first place, grew concered as these accidents began to raise more than a few eyebrows across the Acedemy. But worst of all Evan's emotional and mental states were in a sharp decline.

The accidents continued as his fellow cadets began to fear and shun him which only worsened his negative emotions. Every time he touched something he risked electrocuting it; and that included people. The other cadets began refering to him as "Guilty Spark". His depression soon weighed him down enough that he started skipping classes and locking himself in his room. In fact his negativity was so bad at one point that a Sprite, one of the smallest species of Grimm, actually showed up in his room with him. The small, dragonfly-like Grimm would fly in and out of his open window several times a day; never showing enough resolve to get closer to Evan's figurative black cloud.

One day it did though. It landed on his his desk and looked at him with its glowing compound eyes. It took off again but as it got within four inches of Evan's neck, it had completed a circuit as a blue and purple bolt arced from Evan's body and instantly vaporized the tiny Grimm.

The next day he heard a loud knock on his door followed by "Evan? You in there?"

"Please just leave me alone," he muttered to himself.

"Its me, Sargent Rose. There's someone here who would like to talk to you," he paused a moment, "Come on out, thats an order cadet!"

Evan couldn't ignore that and he straightened his clothes and shook his hair out. He opened the door and standing next to his CO was General James Ironwood himself. Evan immediatly stood at attention and saluted the dignitary before him.

"At ease cadet," said Ironwood, "may we come in?"

**_Next time, Orgins: The Black and Blue Adder Part II. _**

**_Thank you all for reading; please comment, I really want to know what you guys think so far._**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Origins: The Black and Blue Adder Part II

Evan stood there shocked that General Ironwood was actually here, at his door. "Please come in," he said and led his superiors inside. "I apologize for the state of things in here." His dorm was covered with empty plastic bottles and aluminium cans along with a pile of laundry that was forced into the small closet opposite his bed. Evan waited until both his superiors had seated themselves before sitting on the edge of his bed, where he spent most of his time anymore.

"Lets get to the point Evan," Sgt. Rose looked at Evan with concerned eyes, "you are not a bad person. All these accidents have been exactly that; accidents. You shouldn't concern yourself with what your fellow cadets say. General Ironwood here has been looking into the events of the past few months and we think we know why these things have been happening."

Spencer starred at Evan's pulseless body with bewilderment. Should he try CPR? Call for help? But Ozpin said that the instructors wouldn't intervine. _Shit, they're just going to let him die. _Just then Spencer's attention was turned back to his new teammate who gasped for air as his chest shot upward. His body writhed for a few seconds before Evan's breathing steadied. He sat up then threw up on the ground before staggering to his feet. "I'm Evan Gwyrddlas," he croaked, "I guess I'm your new partner."

Spencer just starred at him in disbelief. _Who the fuck is this guy?_ "You gonna be okay man?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. Sorry you had to see that on day one, the Lightning Dust plays hell with my heart sometimes. Especially when certain chemicals, like adrenaline, are involved. But my semblance, as a secondary effect, can act as a defibulator for myself and others if need be.

"So your semblance is electricity?"

"Well, Static specifically. And what about you?"

"Gravity. I can both increase it and decrease it."

Evan straightened his wool/cotten trenchcoat and twirled around with it for a few moments. His tattoo began to glow brighter as the static poured into the Dust like gas into a car. "Okay, I'm good now. Shall we?"

Spencer just shook his head, "Lets go weirdo." _What the hell have I gotten myself into? _

Evan grinned and put his hands behind his head, "I'm following you."

Ironwood pulled out his scroll and unfurled it into its tablet mode. He pulled up black box data and CCT footage from Evan's two plane wrecks. Evan painfully watched as the small, single-prop airplane he was flying for the first time several months ago began to smoke and spark as the control surfaces stopped responding. He could recall every feeling of terror and confusion when he realized he couldn't control the plane anymore. He could remember his instructor yelling at him to adandon the aircraft over the radio.

It was here that Ironwood stopped the video and swipped over to the black box data from that incident. "According to this, the aircraft sustained damage akin to that caused by a lightning strike." Evan cocked his head in confusion.

"Thats impossible. It was sunny that day and hadn't rained in weeks."

"We believe the power surge came from within the aircraft; from you" The general moved to place his hand on Evan's shoulder, but like with the Sprite the day before, as soon as Ironwood's hand came within four inches of Evan's body, the circuit was completed and a small bolt jumped the gap. _As I suspected_. Ironwood didn't seem as surprised as Sgt. Rose was. "You might already know this, but all living things have an Aura; a manifestation of our souls. While everyone has one, only a few can focus and control it to their will. These few are born with what's called a Semblance: an aura that has dominion over a certain force of nature. These individuals almost always go on to become huntsmen and huntresses."

Evan looked up at Ironwood with his glazed brown eyes, "Whats all that gotta do with me?"

"You seem to have the unique semblance of Static. From what I've seen your semblance allows you to generate electricity from any body movement/interaction with other objects; even the constant beating of your heart. Of course the amount of electricity created from these interactions is limited to the conductive properties of each object. However, instead of discharging immediatly like most people, your Aura stores all that energy like a battery."

"Well I guess that makes sense," sneered Evan, "how can a person like me become a pilot if everytime I climb into a cockpit, I short the fucking system?"

Ironwood reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded document and handed it to Evan. Evan unfolded the paper in his hands and his eyes widened. "But this... this is..." Ironwood cut him off there.

"As you know an individual can be discharged from the military for a variety of reasons; mental dissorders, serious injurgy, punishment, etc. We have many templates on file, but I took the liberty to draft this one myself."

Evan Began to read the text.

_In accordance with the Atlesian Armed Forces' rules on disiplinary action Chapter Six, sub-section H, __Cadet Evan Z. Gwyrddlas__ is hereby discharged from the Atlesian Air Force due to the unusual nature of his Aura and Semblance. While the later has caused over 10,000lien in damages to equipment during his 13 months of attendance at __The Atlesian Royal Air Force Acedemy__, Cadet Gwyrddlas is not considered to be at fault or responsible. He is therefore absolved of all financial charges on those accounts._

_He is also granted the opportunity to attend the Huntsman/Huntress Combat Acedemy of his choice upon his signature and palm-print verification of this document. Cadet Gwyrddlas will also have the entrance exam fee covered by The Atlesian Armed Forces along with any travel expenses not exceeding the amount of 4,000lien."_

_Signed; Gen. James Ironwood_

_CO Approval: Sgt. Glenn W. Rose_

Evan sat there for a moment, still trying to make sense of what he held in his hands. "I.." he stammered, "...I don't know what to say sir."

"As you know I run one such acedemy like the ones I mentioned in that document. You'd be a welcomed student there, however, as you have little to no control over your abilities, I believe your best option would be to attend Beacon Acedemy in Vale. Two of my old friends are instructors there. One of which also happens to be the Headmaster. I believe Ozpin is the right person to help you hone your skins and master your Semblance. The fall term doesn't start for another four months so you'll have plenty of time to take some remedial classes with him before starting as a full time student." Ironwood was looking out the window at this point, standing calmly with his hands folded behind his back.

Sgt. Rose got up and sat next to the confused cadet. He put his hand on Evan's shoulder, ignoring the shock he sustatined from the consoling gesture. "Evan, I honestly believe you would be wasted here. Your potential as a huntsman far outweighs your potential as a pilot or engineer."

"You really think so sir?"

"With the proper training, yes."

Evan swallowed, "alright, where do I sign?"

Ironwood handed him a black-ink gel pen and pointed to the line undernieth Sgt. Rose's signature. Evan scribbled his own autograph and then handed the document to Ironwood. The general then held out his tablet. "Place your hand on the screen." A large white rectangle appearded on his scroll and Evan placed his hand within the outline and the white box turned blue. "Its done Cadet." Ironwood stood and saluted. Sgt. Rose followed suite and Evan stood up straight and saluted his superiors for the final time.

**_Author's Note: Probably feels like I'm focusing on Evan Gwryddlas too much, but that's only because I had his origin story fleshed out the most. I assure you, the other members of Team SEAL will get the same treatment._**

**_Next time: Chapter 6: Emerald's Break Part II_**


	6. Chapter 6: Emerald's Break Part II

Lily and her Nodachi crashed through the canopy of the Emerald Forest. Her semblance was Heat and she often theorized she could use it to fly, but having been thrown off of Beacon cliff with no time to prepare herself, the wolf faunus had flown through the air with little grace as she put herself into into a tailspin with misplaced heat blasts.

After finally stabilizing her trajectory, the trees were practically in her face. She drew her enormous sword and gripped onto it tightly, focusing her semblance into the blade. The nodachi's edge quickly became white hot and Lily held it in front of her. The near-melting blade flawlessly cut through each branch, but her speed did not decrease.

A determined look flashed across her face as she hefted Igneus Lilith over her head and thrust it into the massive tree trunk that she approached. The blade sunk into the tree with zero effort but it didn't decrease her momentum enough to save her from contact with the wood. Her small frame hit the tree with a solid OMPH!

Her aura took most of the damage but she still found herself lightly winded. She hung there for a few moments as she caught her breath. As the strength was about to leave her arms her sword began burning its way down the tree like a hot knife through butter. She pulled Igneus Lilith from the scorched trunk and jumped to the ground. She retracted her semblance from the sword's edge and it began to cool rapidly.

After she was sure that no heat remained within the metal, she leaned against the now Y-shaded tree and sank to the ground. She drew a whetstone from the pouch on her belt and began sharpening its blade. _I'm sorry girl, that tree really must have dulled your blade. But don't worry, I'll make it all better._ The forest was silent save for distant gun shots and the occasional bird. Her ears twitched in the light breeze and she sank into a more relaxed position.

Her ears twitched again, this time noticing a new sound coming from behind her. She tilted her head around the tree so her ears could hear better. She sniffed the air a few times but couldn't make out anything unusual. She listened harder and was able to make something out: an unholy squeal that could have only come from an alpha Bomboar. _Its still too far out. As long as it doesn't come any closer, I think I won't need to worry. _Suddenly more squeals become more and more audible. _They're not happy about something. _Her eyes widened as she noticed something else among the pigs.

She got up and rushed towards the commotion. She was agile and swift like the animal she shared traits with. She could smell the Grimm now and the disgust across her face showed it. But among the vile scent she could smell something else; sweat, a little bit of blood, leather, men's deodorant, and denim. _I know this scent, its HIM! Oh Gods, I hope he's okay. Don't worry, I'm almost there.  
_

Aaron stood surrounded by Bomboars and gripped onto Jimmy's neck tightly. The guitar was extended in its sword form, which basically meant that a large blade just popped out of the bottom like a switch-blade knife. Aaron starred down the Alpha Bomboar with determined yet frightened blue eyes. The alpha was about four feet high at the shoulder, was completely white, and had one of its tusks broken off. It squealed and charged at Aaron and the musician dodged and slashed at its armored back. Jimmy bounced off of its back and the giant pig turned and looked at him with enraged eyes. It rolled into its spin attack and the newly formed squealing, spikey-ball of death sped towards Aaron.

The musician barely dodged this new attack and struggled to his feet after diving out of the way. _Maybe he's harboring some resentment after I used his buddy to break my fall from the cliff._ One of the sub-boars charged Aaron from afar with a loud shriek. Aaron turned and strummed a B-Sharp cord; his Semblance greatly amplified the soundwaves from his guitar. The soundwaves were almost visable as debris was kicked up along the cord's path. As the bomboar came into contact with the soundwaves it immediatly fell over as its internal organs ruptured. Aaron turned to face the remaining two hogs and tightened Jimmy's strings. Both the alpha boar and its remaining subordient charged the musician. Aaron stood his ground and played a C-cord followed by a sequence of A, A, G, F, and G notes. The sub-boar fell over and tumbled lifelessly but the White Alpha was still coming.

Aaron closed his eyes as he prepared for the incoming impact. He heard a loud, female scream followed by a sound like steel colliding with rock. He opened his eyes to see a short faunus girl with an enormous sword with a glowing orange edge standing in front of the alpha Bomboar that was neatly sliced in half like a tomato at a dinner. "Are you okay," she said?

_**Author's Note: Next time, Wolf &amp; Musician meet Tactician &amp; Generator.**_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Wolf &amp; Musician Meet Tactician &amp; Generator

As they made their way through the Emerald Forest, Spencer kept looking at his bizzare new partner and more questions kept popping up in his mind. Evan carried himself with a profound arrogence as they walked. He was 6'6, which meant that he towered over pretty much every other student at Beacon. Spencer thought his outfit was completely unfit for combat as well. Evan wore a dark grey V-neck shirt that was made from some kind of artificial fabric and was tight against his body. On top of that, he wore a black trench coat that stretched down past his knees. It's single sleeve stopped at the knuckles of his left hand and the right sleeve was cut off at the shoulder of the coat.

Evan also sported a tattoo that spanned the entire length of his right arm. It was a long series of lightning blots that formed a single bolt at his elbow and finally transformed into an open-mouthed snake's head once it reached the back of his hand. The entire design was a solid sky-blue that appeared to glow with every step. He also wore black skinny jeans and a pair of expensive looking high-top skateboard shoes. The shoes sported a black base material but the front flap was bright cyan and on the side where the logo would usually go there were two white clouds with a clipart lightning bolt inbetween them.

_This guy doesn't carry any sort of weapon_ _with him, S_pencer thought, _I hope he knows what he's doing when the time comes._

"You don't have to worry about me bro," Spencer snapped back to reality as Evan spoke to him almost as if he knew what he was thinking, "I might not look it, but I can handle myself pretty well. Somethings I learned in the military and others I picked up on my own."

Just then, a huge roar was the only warning the pair got as a huge Spinned Ursa charged at them. Spencer barely moved out of the way in time. He pulled his shield in front of him and clicked the release on the handle with his left hand. Suddenly the shield doubled in width and length as it sank into the ground with help from Spencer's semplance. He reached behind him and pulled out his weapon which he set into its rifle-form. He quickly clicked it into one of the notches on top of the shield and looked down the scope as Evan dodged several strikes from the King Ursa.

Spencer kept following the giant bear with the crosshairs looking for some kind of chink in its armor. Evan continued to dodge the bear strikes with ease. He made sure that each time he moved out of the way of the massive paws he would twirl his coat around himself. _What the hell are you doing that for dude?_ Spencer focused in on on area on the bear's back and he squeezed the trigger. The large 50cal. round tore through the Grimm's back and several of its spines flew of and shattered.

The Ursa then turned to face this new attacker before knocking Evan aside with a south paw. Evan rolled a few feet before quickly springing to his feet. He rotated his shoulders and cracked his neck a few times then put his hands out. He widened his stance and focused on the Grimm which was now running right for Spencer who let of aanother shot which nearly shattered his eardrums. Evan's aura quickly repaired the damage and began to channel his semplance into his hands. The tattoo on his arm was now shinning like a mainstreet, neon sign. The Ursa stood up on its hind legs and prepared to strike at Spencer with both arms.

Spencer flipped his rifle into its glaive-form, ducked lower behind his shield, increased the gravity around it and braced himself for impact. He looked up at the towering bear as huge arcs of blue and purple electricity began flooding into the Grimms body. The air was now thick with the scent of gunpowder and ozone. The bear backed up several steps, trying to escape the power surge. Spencer looked over at Evan with amazment as the bolts continously eminated from his hands. _He's a Dynamancer_.

Evan lowered his hands to recollect himself and recharge for his next attack. Spencer took this chance to attack and he lowered the gravity around his body and he jumped toward the King Ursa. First he swung with his shield and then stabbed the bear through its left leg. It cried out in pain as Spencer jumped back and regrouped with Evan. They looked at eachother and nodded. Spencer's spear became a high-caliber rifle once more and set up his shield in the same fortress mode as before and aimed at the creature's left shoulder. One earth-shaking BANG latter and the Ursa's left arm was gone and on the ground.

Evan then focused his lightning on the gapping wound. The Ursa struggled foreward towards the entrenched pair; desperately fighting the electricution. "I don't think this is going to stop it like we thought," Evan shouted, "Its still coming and I have to stop this burst." Evan lowered his hands and took cover behind his partner's shield. The Ursa shook itself aware again and ran towards the two huntsmen.

Suddenly a sound like audio-system feedback broke out from almost everywhere at once. Spencer and Evan both cringed as they covered their ears and the white noise slowly morphed into the sound made by a guitar. The Ursa fell backwards as a small faunus girl jumped over the two huntsmen and charged at the Grimm with a large sword that was the same length as the girl who wielded it. She launched into the air and the sword's edge turned a bright white-orange as the air around it began to shimmer.

She brought the superheated blade down on the Ursa's right arm and sliced through it like it wasn't even there. After the faunus landed, Evan rolled out from behind Spencer and pointed both hands and the Grimm's shoulder nubs. Two sets of lightning immediately conected with the open sockets and the bear cried out for the final time as Spencer blew its head. It's body stood there for a few seconds, not realizing it was dead, as black ooze spat out of its neck like a casino fountain. The ground, as well as the trio's clothes, began to steam as the Grimm blood started to evaporate.

"That was pretty sick. I'm Aaron," chimmed in a voice from behind Spencer and Evan, "we heard the gunshots and Lily over there decided we should help out." The short wolf faunus girl shouldered her massive sword and shyly walked over to the ground with a slight redness across her face. "Now then," said Aaron, "do you lot know which way to go? Because we're fucking lost."

**_Author's Note: I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter. Haven't been able to wind down enough to really start writing anything. So mostly my buddy and I have just been tossing ideas around. This is a joint project with him and at some point he'll have all the character art done for Team SEAL. But that'll come later. Again, Thank you all so much for reading. Please don't be shy and comment if you liked it or didn't like it. Stay Fresh Y'all!_**


	8. Chapter 8: Trees and Tusks

Chapter 8: Tusks and Trees

**_Author's Note: This chapter will have more violence and swearing than the rest so be warned. Also, it will have more of Aaron's guitar in it. As sound is hard to describe in text, just listen to "Proving Grounds" by Attila and "The Legacy" by Black Veil Brides to get an idea of what Aaron's guitar sounds like._**

The four new companions continued to sonter around the forest looking for the temple that all the students were told to find. The forest was full of ruins, but nothing that gave any sort of clue into exactly what they were looking for. Lily Fotia had volunteered to take point and act as a scout for the rest of the group. Her faunus senses acting as the perfect moniters.

Spencer and Lily had met on the first day they had gotten to Beacon. She was only dressed in jeans and a hoodie when they had met but now she wore shin-high, black combat boots with about six buckles on each each one along with red knee-high socks. She wore a purple and black plad mini-skirt that was about two and a half inches above the knee. She also wore a long-sleeved black jacket that was made out of some kind of light material. But undernieth that she wore an exquisite black, white, yellow, and red tribal vest that was made out of porcupine quills that would rattle slightly every time she ran. Lily's hair was a dull strawberry blond and her amber eyes complimented her hair exellently. Her braided ponytail flowed behind her just like her tail as she ran.

Spencer's train of thought was interrupted when Lily quickened her pace and ran ahead of the group. "Lily! Where are you going," Aaron yelled out a her.

"There's somebody ahead of us. I'm getting a better look," she called back as she jumped into the trees and dissappeared.

"Well then," exclaimed Evan, "do we wait here? Its nearly five o'clock and we've been wandering for hours. Although Ozpin didn't say when we HAD to be finished out here, the sooner the better."

"You got a point mate," Aaron added, "the ceremony is tomorrow morning and I'd rather not be out here at night."

The three huntsmen-in-training stood there for awhile when they spotted Lily in the trees making her way back to the group. She jumped from the branches and rejoined the three boys. "The trees are too thick where we are but from what I can tell, there are two girls moving northwest of our position at about 134 yards away."

"How the hell can you tell that they're girls," Evan questioned.

"Well when I sniffed the air I could only make out a human and another faunus at first. But I focused in and I smelled coconut butter and lilacs on one then citrus and almonds mixed with gunpowder on the other. How many guys do you think use that kind of shampoo/lotion? You don't, I can tell you like using ones with menthol mixed in."

Evan said nothing but his face showed that he was clearly impressed.

"But that's not all," Lily added, "there's an enormous Nevermore patroling the skies and from what I can hear, it isn't happy about something. I heard some girl scream which was followed by a loud roar. In short, both students and Grimm alike are starting to converge on a single area."

Spencer, who was listening intentlly while Lily delivered her intel finally spoke up, "From what Lily's said, it sounds like our objective isn't actually that far away. However, with the burgening Grimm activity, I'd sooner sit tight and wait this out. Otherwise it'll be a..."

"Clusterfuck," Evan cut him off, "but just remember, we're on the clock here. If we're not out by nightfall, this forest will be our final resting place."

"Well we can't just faff about discussing strategy all day," said Aaron, "Lily, you take point again. Use those senses of yours."

Lily blushed and nodded before running off ahead of everyone. The three huntsmen nodded to eachother and took off after her. The plan was to circle around the area of convergence and then head towards it after one full lap. Everyone agreed that since so much was happening there, the relics they were told to gather must be there. Lily's ears were full of high pitch Death Stalker squeals that the rest of her squad couldn't hear. They could hear the more audible roars from the giant scorpian as well as cries from the Nevermore that was clearly chasing a group of students.

It was times like these that Lily found it difficult being part wolf. The noises that the giant Death Stalker made while it fought carried far and were blinding her to practically everything else around her. She stumbled to a hault as the noise was begining to physically hurt her ears. The only warning she sensed of the new danger that now bore down on the team was the earth shaking faster and faster before being tossed aside by Evan who dived to protect her. She rolled several feet before gathering herself again and wait she saw before her eyes sent her into a state of horrified shock. Evan was wrapped in a solid black trunk that belonged to a Grimm Mastodon. He struggled against the goliath's hold but it slammed him against one of the now splintered trees and he rolled out unconcious onto the ground.

Spencer and Aaron had managed to jump to a safe distance and began to bombard the 60 foot elephant with long range attacks. Spencer had his rifle and shield in their fortress-mode and kept a steady rate of fire; probing for weaknesses. Despite being one of the largest species of Grimm, almost nothing was known about the Mastodons other than that they are all very old and very intelligent. In fact, most people outside of acedemia have never even heard of the Grimm Mastodon. _But there's one right here_, Spencer thought to himself as one of his gravity-boosted 50cal. rounds tore a hole in the goliath's ear the size of a church alter. The Mastodon trumpeted in pain; a sound that sank deep into the ground and made Spencer's shell cases dance on the ground.

Aaron ran towards the giant's legs with Jimmy in its switchblade-sword-form and went to slash at the beast's shins but it just kicked him aside and he rolled about 20 yards before jumping to his feet and switched Jimmy back to its guitar form. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small antena which he clicked into the guitar's audio jack. He pulled the small, carbon-fiber pick out from Jimmy's neck and he strummed a cord. The sound that the musician and his instrument produced sent every bird and small animal running for their lives within a mile radius. The noise also snapped Lily back into reality and Aaron turned to her and smiled as she hastily drew Igneus Lilith and stood up.

He then turned his attention towards the Mastodon which was fed up with Spencer's bullets just deflecting off of its armor and it began to charge. Aaron strummed a directed series of lower octive C-sharp notes with a D note interspersed every 13 notes. After he repeated this sequence until the Grimm's ears started dripping a steaming black ooze. It turned towards Aaron with enraged and flaming red eyes, trumpeted and charged him. Spencer continued to fire upon the elephant as it charged Aaron, but his bullets either glanced harmlessly off the armored sections or sank into none vital, black flesh. Aaron had to stop his sonic barrage in order to dodge the Mastodon. As he rolled out of the way at the last moment, he saw Lily rocket towards the goliath's head leaving a shimmering trail of heated air behind her. She swung Igneus Lilith with all her might but the superheated nodachi merely left a large scortch mark on the Mastodon's face armor. She backflipped off the goliath's face before its trunk could grab her.

Lily landed behind Spencer's fortress which he moved in order to protect the still unconcious Evan. He watched as Aaron kept trying to slash the elephant's trunk away with his guitar-sword. "Aaron, get the fuck over here! We need to regroup," Spencer yelled. Aaron ducked a sweeping trunk strike and sprinted towards the others. Lily and Aaron ducked behind Spencer's shield wall and nearly fainted as they felt the gravity that was needed to anchor Spencer's weapons to the ground. The G-forces that surronded the team were three times the norm. He grimmaced everytime he pulled the trigger as all the recoil from his rifle was absorbed by his increasing strained aura. A loud, and over dramatic, groan alerted everyone to the fact that Evan was now coming to.

"Ughhh, what the fuck was that thing. And why do I taste grass," Evan said as he struggled to his feet.

"Morning princess," said an exhausted and sarcastic Spencer as he shot of another round that deflected off the Mastodon's temple as it walked towards them with a malevolent confidence, "if you're done napping back there, I could really use some of that lighting you got stored under your skin."

"Ughh, its actually pheroelectricity, but whatever asshole," Evan limped out of Spencer's gravity field so he could stand up straight and move freely. Spencer just rolled his eyes and smiled as he replaced his magazine.

"Aaron, Lily, I need you two to keep this bastard occupied while that bastard over there charges up," Spencer looked over his shoulder and the two sword weilders nodded and they exited the gravity field and sprinted towards the Grimm. They both began cutting at its legs but the damage wasn't enough to really hinder the goliath enough for any kind of debilitating strike. Spencer looked over at Evan only to see him doing some kind of break dance/Xiao Lin routine while spinning his coat around him. _Seriously, what the actual fuck is wrong with this guy? _Spencer's eyes widened as he saw that the tattoo in Evan's right arm was glowing and even sparking on its own.

The clouds above the battle ground began getting darker as more and more began to gather and fuse together. Then with a thunder clap, an enormous arc of lighting shot from Evan's outstretched arm and connected with the Mastodon's left shoulder causing it to stagger backwards and almost fall over.

"Holy shit mate! That's awesome," Aaron exclaimed.

"Spencer, I have an idea, but I need a boost," Lily yelled as she ran over to him as another thunder clap signaled another shot from Evan's position.

She jumped towards Spencer as he reduced the gravity around himself and Lily as she landed and kelt on his shield which he held above his head. He pointed the rifle towards the ground and fired so the recoil would launch Lily upward. The reduce G-forces combined with Lily's directed heat blasts shot her towards the Mastodon's head at a phenomenal speed. She heated Igneus Lilith until the massive sword's edge was white hot and she swung the sword effortlessly through the goliath's right tusk then cut the left tusk off as her momentum began to decrease. She landed and ran undernieth the Grimm as black smoke began billowing out of the stubs on its face.

"Figures the head would be the weak point. And by head I mean not its face," yelled Evan, "I think I can take it down, but I just need to get on its back. Spencer, this has to be an all or nothing push. It's tired, but so are we, you call it out."

"Alright, Aaron, Lily, you need to slash the back of its front legs. It's trying to trample us, we REALLY need it to not do that. Evan, once they bring it to its knees, you run up its trunk and do what you need to. Everyone got that?"

"Here we go," Aaron said with a determined grin as he sprinted towards the Mastodon's legs and cut through the tendons in the beast's right leg as Lily simply sliced off the goliath's right foot. Spencer focused his fire on the center of the Mastodon's forehead, hoping to break through the armor, he called the other two back and stopped firing as Evan ran towards the fallen giant. His coat billowed behind him just like the smoke that billowed out from the elephant's tusks and electricity was arcing from his entire body as he ran up the Mastodon's head. He stopped at the top of the goliath's head and looked back at his teammates and through his scope, Spencer could see that Evan's eyes had shifted from their original deep brown to a glowing electric blue.

Evan flashed that asshole smirk of his before running towards the back of the Mastodon's head. _Alright, this is gonna hurt you ALOT more than its gonna hurt me. But its gonna hurt me none the less. _Evan rubbed his hands together and forced his palms into the Grimms skin and with an accentuated warcry, he delivered several thousand volts directly into where the Grimm's brainstem would connect to its head. It cried out in pain as it body violently seizured as electricity surged into its body from the 6'6 huntsman on its back until it finally collapsed lifelessly onto the ground. Evan limped away from the dead Grimm as its body was already beginning to evaporate. Aaron, Lily, and Spencer just starred at their commrade who staggered towards them. His eyes were brown again, his hair was a staticy mess, and the tattoo on his arm had faded to an almost black color. "What," was all he managed to say before collapsing to his knees. Lily and Spencer helped him to his feet as they carried him towards the forest temple.

The group was silent as they only seemed to have enough strength and willpower left to finish their initiation. When they reached the small, circular temple, they could see that the relics were large chess pieces, and only two of them were left; two black pawns were the only relics left to the group. They all shrugged to each other as Aaron and Spencer both collected their prizes. The sun was going down at this point and seeing as Evan was now able to walk with only the assistance of one other person, Aaron and Lily sprinted towards the cliff as Evan and Spencer followed. Their strides became increasingly paniced as their more primal instincts took over their motions: fear of the dark and fear of what lies therein. Lily took point as her faunus eyes led them to the cliff. However, there was no visable way up. Spencer let go of Evan and focused his aura around his new commrades. The four of them begain to quickly float away from the ground as the gravity was reversed and they shot upwards. Spencer sloppily manuevered them to a soft, grassy patch near where they launched at the begining of the day. Once they landed, they all lied down on the ground and started laughing.

**_Author's Note: Wow that was a long one. Well now you know what each member's skills consist of. Of course I'll elaborate on each one in later chapters though. By the way, if you were wondering what the song that Aaron plays at the begining of the fight sounds like? It was essentially the opening breakdown for "Middle Fingers Up". Next time, "Life at Beacon Starts"._**


	9. Chapter 9: Life at Beacon Starts

**_Author's Note: I noticed RWBY: Grimm Horizon has peaked 260 views and personally that just blows me away. I've tried being creative online in other ways in the past; I have my own music channel on youtube and soundcloud, been part of a let's play channel, even started a deviantart page. I've never felt like they were reaching people though, it was like they were just getting lost in the white noise of the internet and it really discouraged me. But y'all have really started to turn that around for me. I consider myself an artist of all trades and believe me when I say that feeling like your work is ACTUALLY reaching people is the one of the greatest feelings we can possibly feel. So thank you all._**

**_On a seperate note, this chapter will star a couple characters from Rejectedknight34's story "RWBY: Sunshine and Shadows". I'll try my best to capture them in the purest form, but if you haven't read his stories, I highly suggest you do for a better visualization._**

The sun was nearlly below the horizon when the VTOL came to pick up the tired and injured huntsmen and huntress from the edge of Beacon Cliff. Aaron and Spencer helped Evan to his feet as Lily ran to the open to open doors and met with the two paramedics. She hastily explained their situation to them as they ran to assist Evan and the rest. Evan had four bruised ribs, a fractured collar bone, and his heart wasn't beating correctly. One of the paramedics took over for Aaron in carrying the injured Dynamancer back to the VTOL. Lily had explained to them that the only way he could even remotely walk was if Spencer was there constantly reducing the gravity around him.

As they neared the VTOL a small, large chested, blue haired woman stepped out to help Evan into the aircraft. He looked up at her as she just lightly flicked his forehead. "You used too much electricity again didn't you," she said to him in a voice that was both concerned and scolding.

"S..sssorry Proffessor Azura," he coughed, "had to in order to take that thing out."

"You," she pointed at the paramedic that helped carry him in, "grab the generator that Ozpin told us to bring and hook it up to his right arm." The EMD just looked at her confused. "NOW," she yelled. He quickly opened one of the cargo crates on the VTOL's bulkhead and grabbed the generator. It was small commercial generator that ran off of a Lightning Dust crystal. Instead of a pull cord it had a large button in the center of the Schnee Company logo on the top and after the EMD hooked the wires to Evan's arm, Prof. Azura slammed her fist down on the starter and the generator began to hum as energy from the Dust crystal began flowing into the Huntsman.

The other three students and the other EMD climbed into the Bullhead as Prof. Azura monitered the voltage that was entering Evan. Aaron closed the doors as the VTOL took of and headed towards Beacon. Lily's ears were folded down as she starred at the man who saved her life just laying there on the floor. "Is he going to be okay proffessor?"

Azura looked up at the faunus and smiled. "Just you watch Miss Fotia." Evan's tattoo had slowly begun regaining its color ever since they had hooked him up to the generator but almost on queew, Evan's chest shot upward as the EKG began beeping wildly.

"He's going into cardiac arrest," shouted one of the EMDs, "grab the paddles."

"Wait," yelled Spencer, "that won't work. Just let this happen."

After a gasp of air, Evan's body settled down and his heartbeat steadied. "You know, I still have bruised and broken bones on me. No need to just stare." Azura couldn't help but laugh as the paramedics flash healed his ribs and collar bone with Nature Dust.

As soon as he was positive that nothing else on him was unbaribly painful, he sat down next to Lily and scratched her ears which made her face turn bright red. Evan just smiled then crossed his arms and looked out the window. _I don't like this sunset. It feels ominous... almost like a storm is gathering. _"You four did excellent today," Azura interrupted his train of thought, "now then, do you have the relics you were told to gather?" Spencer and Aaron both handed her the black pawns they had collected. She stowed both pieces in her satchel as the Bullhead was begining to land. "Alright, your room number is SE-224. All of your belongings have already been moved inside and all you need to do is just flash your scrolls on the console by the door and you can come and go whenever you like," the engines powered down and the doors opened, "the Ceremony is at 10am tommorow, do not be late. Now go get some rest." Azura just smiled as she watched the four students walk the path to Beacon under the fresh moonlight of Luna's debris field.

"Spencer Gurin, Evan Z. Gwryddlas, Aaron Khan, and Lily Fotia. The four of you retrieved the Black Pawn pieces. From this day on you will be known as Team SEAL. Led by, Spencer Gurin," the entire auditorium began to clap as the newly formed Team SEAL bowed to Prof. Ozpin then walked of the stage as a team of guys took the stage to take their place.

"Congrats bro," said Evan as he nearly choked Spencer when he wrapped his arm around Spencer's neck, "I knew he was gonna pick you."

"Thanks Evan, you can let go now," Evan released him from his brotherly choke-hold, "You know, a leader is only as good as the rest of his team and if I had to go back and do all that again, I don't think I could find a better team. We've all already been through a lot and that makes us brothers."

"Hey," said Lily with playfully disgruntled look on her face.

"Right, three brothers with one amazing sister."

As the last team, Team RWBY, exited the stage, all four of Team SEAL's scrolls buzzed with one message between them.

"_Please meet me in my office. -Ozpin"_

**_Next time: "Distant Clouds"_**


	10. Chapter 10: Distant Clouds

**_"The pawn is no mere sacrficial piece. It is almost always the very first line of defence and carries the potential power to rival the queen and dominate the board."_**

The elevator ride up Ozpin's office felt longer to the four students than it actually took. They were all dressed in their combat gear but their weapons were in their respective lockers, except for Evan who had donned a pair of black, rubber gauntlets that reached half way up his forearm. His teamates had known him long enough now to know that he like hugs and hitting people in friendly fashions; which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the electric shocks. So before the ceremony started, Proffessor Azura approached him with the gloves and told him that since he had a team now, he had to be more grounded.

The doors opened and the smell of coffee and aging brass flooded Lily's nose. The headmaster's office looked more like the inside of a watch than an office she thought. Across the room was the grey haired man himself sitting at his desk with Prof. Azura on one side and Prof. Goodwitch on the other. He finished his coffee before speaking to the students. "You know it isn't very often we get a team name that actually forms a coheriant word. You four did an excellent job in the Emerald Forest, however I hoped we could discuss your encounter with the Mastodon." Ozpin leaned back in his chair as Goodwitch began speaking.

"This year's initiation witnessed some of the highest Grimm activity in 25 years. Death Stalkers, Ursa, King Tajitu, Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and Nevermores; all native to this region. However, the Nevermore that Team RWBY took down was probably the largest ever recorded. That in itself is worrysome, but a Grimm like a Mastodon, should not have been there."

"The only Mastodon heard anywhere near here is at Mountain Glenn and even then, they migrated there," said Azura, "believe me when I say that the elephant you faced was a small one."

"As huntsmen and huntresses, it is our job to keep this world from any force that would seek to do harm," Ozpin cut in again, "you did well against one Mastodon, but there are things in this world that give even the mightiest gods nightmares."

_Shit, I had no idea the headmaster could be this scary,_ thought Aaron.

"That being said, as first year students, you don't really need to worry about all that. You have your new lives of acedemics and comrodery ahead of you. But take heed, the die have been cast, and whatever events will come to take place in the near future, you four cannot walk away from this. There is no such thing as destiny in this world, there is only circumstance and responsibility; I learned that a long time ago." Ozpin looked down at the table as a cloud seemed to cover his face in a sullen shadow. "But now is not the time for fear or fret. Go be a team, make friends, prepare for the semister. You are students after all."

Team SEAL collectivlly bowed to their teachers before leaving the room. As the elevator doors closed, Ozpin got up from his chair and walked over to the massive window that looked out at all of Beacon and Vale. _The most distant clouds can hold the largest hurricanes. Remnant, what have you got in store for us? _

Evan fell face first into his new bed and groaned loudly into his pillow. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow." He began to further overexagerate himself by fake crying.

"Well guess what," Spencer said, "you have to. So shut up."

Without skipping a beat, and without stopping his crocadile tears, Evan swiftly flipped off his new team leader before rising up to his knees and flipping his hair until he was satisfied at how it looked.

"So what do we do now," said Lily from across the room?

"We unpack and decorate this place," said Aaron as he tore open one of his boxes, "let's get to it."

_**Author's Note: *clears throught* Plot...**_

_**Next Time: "Team CRDL Can Suck a Dick"**_


	11. Chapter 11: Team CRDL Can Suck A Dick

Chapter 11: Team CRDL Can Suck A Dick

It has been one month since initiation and the highs and lows of acedemic life were in full swing. Team SEAL's dorm no longer looked like a personalized hotel room but instead bore all the callsigns of permanant residence. Lily found it hard adjusting to life with three boys but she had managed to warden off her side of the room with a large red-tape line across the floor. "If any of your shit makes it across this line," she told her teamates, "I cannot garantee that it won't melt." And so far the boys have been compliant with keeping their collective mess confined to their side of the dorm.

The walls were covered in various types of posters. While the floor space was fiercly divided, everyone agreed that the wall space was open game. Evan, Aaron, and Lily had both brought at least five band posters each and the wall that held the windows was designated "The band wall" because it was quickly filled. Bands like: The Achievemen, Cyclops, Rapid Monsoon, Ride the Storm, We Fought Like Thunder, Of Sunshine &amp; Shadows, A Night To Forget, Bring Me The Hills, Roxirya, Blue Tajitu, iwrestledanursaonce, Never More, YellowGoat, and Syrioth. The other walls were covered with posters for games like "Civilizations of Remnant" and "Call of Honor: Heros of Atlas". Evan even hung some of his original art on the walls.

"UGH, I hate these damn uniforms," Aaron said as he fiercly undid his tie, "they're so fucking hot!" He took his belt off, untucked his shirt and collapsed onto his bed.

"I don't think they're that bad," pipped Lily.

"Easy for you to say, you have a nice, breezy skirt to wear, not some sufficating wannabee tux."

"Come on guys, lets grab lunch while we can. Sparring class is in 90 minutes," said Spencer, who had taken on the role of team leader with gusto. Everyone on Team SEAL respected him as a leader, even though it didn't show socially. Everyone was dissed and made fun of equally and any other team that they decided to hangout with found themselves crying with laughter. "Lets head down to the banquet hall now, grab lunch, then head to the locker rooms and get our shit together."

Evan ducked into the dorms small bathroom and not five minutes later emerged fully dressed in his combat gear. He threw his uniform onto his bed and kicked their dorm's door open. "I'll meet you guys down there," he said as he began walking down the hall before straight up yelling, "I'M FUCKING PUMPED!" Spencer looked out down the hall just in time to watch his teamate lick a power socket before going down the elevator.

"He really is weird," said Lily.

"Yeah, but its a good kind of weird," added Aaron as the three of them began to walk down the hall.

After lunch, the first-year students gathered for another edition of Goodwitch's sparring class. If you asked any student what their favorite class was, almost all of them would say the sparring classes because they thought it was fun to fight one another and watch the other fights. Team SEAL took their usuall seats in the very top row in the center of the room. It had the best view, plus they could talk to each other without drawing much attention.

"Alright, lets get started, shall we," Goodwitch said as she entered the room without looking up from her scroll, "before we begin, would anyone like to go first?"

"OUI," shouted Evan as his hand shot up into the air.

She looked up in his direction and punched a few keys on her scroll, "Very well, lets find you an opponent Mr. Gwryddlas."

He started walking down to the staging area and when Spencer was sure he was out of ear-shot, "Lily, I want you to sniff out and destroy his energy drinks."

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Cardin Whinchestor, I don't believe you two have had the chance to face off yet," said Goodwitch as the scoreboard powered up and both Cardin and Evan's images appeared with their aura meters.

"This will be no contest Proffessor," said a smug Cardin as he took his place opposite Evan, "You might want to start pairing up the next match."

Obviously annoyed with his ego Goodwitch simply Hmphed, "We'll see Mr. Whinchestor. Both combatents ready? Begin."

Cardin charged Evan right away and swung his mace over his head to ready the burn crystal in the center. He planned to try and take out the unarmed huntsman with one strike, but Evan simply stepped out of the way and poked Cardin's neck with two fingers giving him an annoying zap. The ground lit up with explosions from the bully's missed strike. Cardin swung again and again but Evan continued to dodge effortlessly; twirling his coat everytime then poking Cardin with the same annoying zaps.

_Fuck, _thought Spencer, _he's toying with him. _

Cardin was visably frustrated because his swings were increasingly frantic. He finally landed a blow that sent Evan sprawling across the floor but Evan quickly recovered and began his charging ritual. The Lightning Dust in Evan's arm began glowing and sparking. Cardin readied his mace to deliver a finishing blow but Evan outstretched his arm and the lights flickered as the arcs poured into Cardin who just feel over twitching as his aura bar on screen steadily fell down to the red zone.

Evan stopped his attack as Goodwitch called the match. "You were right Cardin," the gloating Dynamancer spat at his fallen foe, "that was no contest. I detest people like you." Evan left the shocked and angry Cardin on stage as he walked back up to his seat and leaned against the wall.

"Alright, lets see, next match will be Jaune Ark versus Spencer Gurin."

**_Next Time: Planetary Judo_**


	12. Chapter 12: Planetary Judo

**_Author's Note: I know I've been focusing on Evan Gwryddlas alot, but I promise I'll be switching gears to the other members of Team SEAL starting with this chapter. Also look foreword to some interactions between Team RWBY and JNPR along with a scuffle with Team CRDL._**

Both Spencer and Jaun Ark stepped up onto the stage and prepared themselves for their match. Jaun nervously drew his sword and his shield unfurled as he held it in front of him. _He's guarding his upper body well, but his legs are wide open, _Spencer thought, _I can practically smell the inexperience on him. _The bell went off and Jaun sloppily charged at at Spencer with his sword raised high.

Spencer didn't draw out his weapons but instead widened his stance and held his hands out. His aura began to buzz as the gravity around him slowly started to decrease. Jaun swung hard at Spencer's shoulder but thanks to the lowered G-forces he was able to effortlessly side-step out of the way, grab Jaun's sword wrist, put his hand on his stomach, and lift Jaun over his head. What would have been difficult for even the strongest student, Spencer did with ease thanks to his semblance. Jaun squirmed as Spencer brought him down into the ground with such a force that the floor cracked and splinttered. Jaun rolled foreword off of his upper back and struggled to stand up.

The scoreboard showed that half of his aura was gone after that one hit. Jaun tried to ready himself for another attack but his vision was still blurry and grey from the impact. On his way down he had expierenced over four times the normal amount of gravity and he nearlly passed out from that. Jaun sluggishly swung as Spencer countered with another judo roll which sent Jaun sprawlling. The bell rang again signalling the end of the match.

"Well thats all the time we have for today. Mr. Ark, might I suggest using your scroll to moniter your aura from now on," said Goodwitch as the class began to disband, "have a good weekend and remember to study and stay fit. Mr. Gurin, would you mind helping Jaun back to his room.?"

"Of course proffessor." Spencer walked over to the dazed and stunned Jaun who was already being helped to his feet by his partner, Pyrra Nikos.

"Uggghhhh, Pyrra, my chest hurts," the injured Jaun groaned.

Spencer drapped Jauns left arm over his neck as Pyrra did the same. "Sorry about the asskicking, but that's how that class works. I'm sure Pyrra here would be glad to give you some pointers." Pyrra blushed slightly and looked away.

The three of them walked out of the arena and made for the South East dorm elevator. The ride up was short and silent. Spencer said nothing due to the guilt he felt due to the beatdown he just delivered to Juan. Pyrra's face was bright red and was so nervous being that close to her teamate that should couldn't speak and Juan's chest just hurt too much.

The doors opened onto their floor and they began to walk down the hall. The hall was largely silent but that was broken by a loud, "SON OF A BITCH," followed by a loud BANG.

"Who was that," asked Pyrra.

"I think that was my partner, Evan," said Spencer, "from the sound of it, it seems like he shorted out another pair of headphones."

"Oh, how many pairs has he gone through?"

"Lets see, this will make 15 since we first got here," replied Spencer.

"Wow," said Pyrra, "how does he go through so many?"

"His semblance doesn't mix well with most electronics. Is this your room here?" The room in question was just down the hall from Team SEAL's. On one side a door had a nice and tidy brass plaque that said Team RWBY whereas the door across the hall had Team JNPR written in gigantic pink and sparkly letters with a large ":D" undernieth the words.

"Don't touch the glitter," croaked Juan, "It won't come off... ever."

Pyrra opened the door and Spencer helped Juan onto his bed. _Why hasn't his aura kicked in yet?_ "I can take it from here," said a somewhat nervous Pyrra.

"Well, alright," said Spencer, "We're down the hall if you need us for anything. Bye for now."

Spencer closed the door and Pyrra just looked down at her partner with concerned eyes.

**_Author's Note: Wow, I fucking hate writer's block. More plot to be coming soon, but I really want to show what Team SEAL's everyday lives are like. Also, look foreword to more interactions between my characters and the actual characters. Thanks for reading y'all!_**

**_Next Time: "Ambush: Failed!"_**


	13. Chapter 13: Ambush: Failed!

Chapter 13: "Ambush: Failed!"

Nearly a week had passed since the sparring class in which Cardin Winchestor was utterly defeated by Evan Gwyrddlas. His pride was severally dented by the match and he took it out everyone and anyone. He had taken to bullying any faunus student that he happened to come across. Not only that, he had seen just how weak Juane Ark really was and Cardin took full advantage of that.

But undernieth all that, he still held onto his resentment of that "electric prick" as Cardin refered to Evan as. He began to scheme with his teamates on how they would get revenge on Team SEAL. They all came to the conclusion that they should just ambush them in some alley on the weekend. Team SEAL had a habit of being very active on social media; both individually and collectivelly. So therefore, their schedules became illuminated thanks to some dredging.

Sky Lark checked his scroll, "So it looks Gwyrddlas goes to some sushi place in southern Vale every Friday night, but whethor or not the rest of his team is there with him, is another thing entirely."

"I don't care," grunted Cardin, "as long as long as I repay him for that humiliation in front of the class, I'll be happy." He cracked his nuckles as well as his shoulders and started for the door. "Come boys, we're having sea food tonight."

"Honestly, I don't understand why those two didn't come along. We always have a good time."

"Well, knowing Aaron, he's probably playing guitar on some street corner or inside some hole-in-the-wall bar. And as for Lily, she told me that Prof. Azura wanted to help her out with some kind of new skill they'd been talking about," replied Spencer.

Evan and Spencer were walking towards their favorite resturant, The Drunken Bento, located in the southern district of the city. Team SEAL had started a tradition of going there to eat and hang out ever since the week after initiation. Evan loved it so much that he went regardless if the other three had other plans or not.

"So what are you getting bro?"

Evan put his hands behind his head and stretched his back out. "Ehhhh, probably my usuall; the Spicy Lobster Tempura Roll."

"How you affording that every week? Thats like the most expensive thing on the menu."

"Well, it helps when you don't buy that much other stuff during the week."

The two rounded the street corner and the resturant was in view now. The surrounding buildings all had Vale's signature neo-classical architechure but most of the signs had another language on them that Evan couldn't understand and Spencer could barelly understand. The LED and Fiber Optic displays lit the streets with a lighting that was akin to high noon even though it was nearly 8:30 at night.

Just then, Evan felt a hand grab his arm and was yanked into an alley way. Both he and Spencer were thrown on the ground before getting a chance to defend themselves. Fortunatly for Evan, his semblance acts as an auto-defence system; especially when faced with a sneak-attack. He looked over and saw Russel Thrush twitching on the ground. Evan sighed and put his palm to his face.

"Yo Spenc, you okay," he said.

"Yeah," Spencer answered as he rose to his feet, "what's this all about."

"It's about payback fatty!"

Spencer looked down the alley to see the rest of team CRDL emerge from the shadows. Spencer's unshaven face furrowed into a look of annoyed frustration. He may have been overweight, but his skills and semblance more than made up for it. He was strong, and everyone admired him for it, well, almost everyone. Sky Lark approached him and got right in his face.

Even though he never said it, Sky held alot of resentment towards Spencer because they both practically used the same type of weapon, but Spencer had better skill with his glaive. Combine this with the fact that Sky saw Spencer as physically inferior and a recipe for hatred is formed. Evan stayed on the ground but leaned against the wall and started to fix his hair. His dark brown locks, on the side that wasn't buzzed, began to lightly spike together as the static ran through it. He flipped his hair to the left and kept playing with it while their aggressors closed in on them.

"Go on Dove, you can have the first hit," Cardin said as he pushed the smallest member of their team foreword. He stepped towards Spencer and swung a lazy left hook towards Spencer's head. Spencer easily dodged and focused his semblance into his right fist which conected with the bottom of Dove's chin. The gravity that Spencer poured into the uppercut sent Dove flying into the air and comically rolled down the stairs of a fire-escape before landing sloutched over a railing, passed out. Everyone stood still and starred at what just happened for a couple minutes before Sky and Cardin charged right for Spencer.

Against the confined space of the alley and the threat of two angry attackers, all Spencer could manage to do was dodge as best he could. _I'm just glad they didn't bring their weapons,_ he thought. He blocked both guys at once but they continued to push him towards the wall. "You know evan, you can feel free to help me out anytime ya know."

Evan sighed and jumped to his feet. He slowly made his way towards the remaining members of Team CRDL. He removed his gloves and began rubbing his hands together; generating more electricity as his pace quickened. Finally he full on sprinted towards Sky and Cardin and shoved his palms into each of their guts. Each one fell over spazzing as electricty akin to the amount used by a riot control tazer surged through their bodies. Evan said nothing but pulled out his scroll to take a picture of the scene and imediatly posted it. By the team they were done eating, the post was trending.


	14. Chapter 14: The Ocean Calls

The first semister was nearing a close and already students from the other kingdoms had begun to arrive in Vale for the Vital Festival. The city was already being decorated with new holo-displays and lines of flags criss-crossed the streets. Although the initial air was festive, undernieth existed one of anxiety. Dust shops were getting knocked over left and right. While the police stated that everything was under control, the fact that the collprits had yet to be caught stated otherwise.

But this didn't stop the students of Beacon from heading down to the city on their day off to have a bit of fun. Both Team SEAL and Team RWBY had boarded the same airship back to Vale in the late afternoon. While most of the well-aquanted members of each side made small talk with eachother, Evan sat in the window and looked out at the city below him until he felt a rush of air and rose petals began to fall around him. He looked up to see Ruby Rose's beaming face looking down at him.

"Can I help you Rose?"

"Hi," she said with her usual child-like enthusiasm, "I don't we've ever had the chance to formally introduce ourselves. I'm Ruby!"

"Evan Gwryddlas."

"I just want to say that I really like your fighting style, but I've never seen you use your weapon. Can I see it?"

"Sure," Evan sat up and took his signature coat off. He was wearing a black tank-top undernieth and his Lightning Dust tattoo could be seen in it's near entirty.

"Uhmm," said a sightly flustered Ruby, "where is it?"

"Right here," Evan smirked and gestured to his tattoo.

Ruby's silver eyes widened. "Really? Thats IT?"

"Not what you expected?"

"I mean, I'd heard the rumors, but I didn't think you were actually unarmed all the time. THATS SO COOL! Can I touch it?"

"I'm not gonna stop ya," Evan offered his right arm to the young huntress and focused really hard to retract his semblance from that arm as to not electrocute her.

Ruby carefully and methodically traced the Dust in Evan's arm starting from the open-mouthed snake's head on the back of his hand. He shuddered slightly as Ruby's hands gentlly made their way up the lightning bolts on his upper arm. _Evan, chill out. She's like 15. You DO NOT want to open that can-o-worms. _He completely relaxed his focus as Ruby's touch neared his chest and her hand got zapped.

She squealed slightly as her hand shot back from Evan's chest. The look in his eyes offered her all the apology that she could ask for. "So how long did that take to finish," asked Ruby.

"The whole thing took about a month to complete. Most mages get magic circles or runes etched into them, but I wanted to design my own image if I was gonna have it permanetly. So the initial installation took about a week, then I had to spend three more weeks in the ICU."

"What? Why were you in the hospital?"

"Sometimes the body will reject Dust that gets fused into it. Alot of huntsmen and huntresses have actually died from that very rejection process. And thats what happened to me for the first week of my stay there. I was actually pronounced dead half a dozen times before they decided it was safe to release me."

Evan laughed at the memory and looked over to see a dumbstruck Ruby. Their conversation was ended by the airship's landing process. Ruby bolted over to her teamates where her sister Yang simply gave her a snarky grin. Evan donned his coat again and joined his team as well. Spencer looked up at him with judging eyes. "You know she's 15, right?"

"Yes I know she's fucking 15," Evan hissed at his leader.

Lily stifled a laugh and the teams said goodbye to one another as they exitted the transit center.

Aaron ran out in front everyone and hailed a cab. "Where ya goin' stranger," said the driver.

"Avon Beach," said Spencer as all four of them pilled into the cab.

"I can tell ya right now that'll be 28lien for the lot of ya. That okay?"

"Thats no problem at all."

"Okay, off we go then," said the driver as he put the car into first gear and sped off towards the sea.

**_Next time, "A Break for the Young"_**


	15. Chapter 15: A Rest for The Young

A Rest for the Young

The cab sped away and Team SEAL was left with Vale's only commercial beach completely to themselves. A gentle breeze tugged at their clothes as they walked closer to the sea. The waves were small and the tide was low but their sounds carried far. Avon Beach was probably the furthest they could have gone from Beacon and still be in Vale. I took almost the entire afternoon to get there and the sun was very low on the horizon. The cirrus clouds that snaked across the sky were lit aflame by the setting sun. Orange, crimson, yellow, purple, along with the remains of the blue sky itself swirled together like oil on water. While his teamates continued down towards the water, Evan stood in the middle of the sands marvelling at what he saw above him. He was training to become a Huntsman, but he considered himself three seperate titles before that: Artist, Cordelican, Atlesian, Huntsman.

The artist in him was struck hard by the sunset. He longed to recreate it, it killed him inside, but he knew that it wouldn't be the same. _Not even a picture would do this sky justice_. So he raised his arm and gripped an imaginary brush, _green_, he thought. Color in hand he outlined the reddish clouds with his imaginary tool, _indigo,_ he thought again, and he painted a dark blue streek under the clouds that were closest to white. Happy with his work, he blinked as if capturing the snapshot in his mind, lowered his arm, smiled, and turned to catch up to his teamates.

Spencer and created a depression in the sand about a foot and a half deep, presumably as a firepit. Aaron had a duffle bag full of craft beer and cider bottles. "Where the hell did you get all that?" asked Spencer.

"Hehe Xiao Long hooked me up. Apparently she's got some poor sod down at Club Ohm by the balls so she gets booze wheneva she wants."

"So how much did all that cost you?"

"About 50lien and a signed O.S/S vinyl."

"Damn bro, rough trade off."

"Nah, I had two," Aaron laughed and continued to unload his bag.

"Woah, this shit looks good," Evan came up to the two of them and grabbed a bottle of cider, twisted it open, and emptied a third of it in one go. "Fuck yeah, just the right amount of dryness. Where's Lily?"

Spencer pointed down the beach to where Lily was gathering drift wood for the fire. Evan raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment and took another drink.

Aaron continued to look in Lily's direction and he felt almost mesmerized by her wagging tail. _She's obviously happy to be near the sea._ "Uhh, Aaron?"

The musician turned the face his teamates; Spencer looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Evan gave him a snarky squint with the bottle still in his mouth. Aaron's composure quickly began to leave him. Spencer put his hand on Aaron's shoulder.

"You know," he said, "our line of work comes with many uncertanties. So I think that its important to not waste an opportunity when one presents itself."

"Besides," said Evan as he slammed down his empty bottle, "Its obvious to everyone that she likes you too. We were actually wondering how we were going to set you too up with eachother cuz you seemed pretty oblivious."

"It's not that I was oblivious," said a blushing Aaron, "I was just so used to flirting and short, no-strings-attached, flings that the first sign I was developing real feelings for Lily I didn't know what to do about them. Still don't"

"Well we're all guys here," Evan cracked open another cider, "So you should probably ask Team RWBY, Pyrra, or maybe Nora about what to do. I can't speak for Spenc," he took an enormous swing and a small arc jumped from his tongue to the bottle as he licked his mouth clean, "but I've never had much luck with women. They've all had some kind of psychosis."

"Ha!," laughed Spencer, "I bet there's some good stories there."

"I'm not that drunk yet asshole. But seriously, Lily is an adorable woman. So take a shot bro," Evan raised his bottle and winked at his teammate.

**_Author's Note: I am sooooooo sorry it's taken so long for me to post something. I've tried several times but lost my progress in one form or another. Combine that with overall writer's block and OMG, I couldn't do anything. So I really wanted to bust this out. They seem short, my chapters, because I tailer them for phone screens and mobile users. Thats how I started reading fanfics. So now that this asshole of a chapter is out of the way, I can start writing more chapters on a more, regulated schedule. Thank you all for reading and a special thanks to those of you who helped me through this little slump._**

**_Next Time: Rattlesnake Meets Viper_**


	16. Chapter 16: Rattlesnake Meets Viper

_**Rattlesnake meets Viper**_

The first semister was over and Beacon's students were still exhausted by exams. The break in between the semisters was too short to warrant any lengthy trips away from campus so most of the students just stayed on campus. The city had been fully decorated for the Vytal Festival and the students from Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral were already arriving. The entire city was excited for the events; if only to forget. Last month a freighter from Atlas was attacked by The White Fang. Other than the fact that a handful of students from Beacon had helped thwart the hijacking, not much was puplicly released on the investigation. The public now lived under a thick mantle of fear covered only by a thin sheet of normalcy. It wouldn't take much for everything to go to shit.

Classes would start back up in a day and Team SEAL had no idea what to do. They sat at a table in the dining hall during lunch hoping they could make plans of some kind. Lily sat slumped over the table quietly chewing on a spare rib bone while she listened to Evan and Spencer argue over game-related stuff and Aaron sat with his headphones on, tuning Jimmy; her wolf ears twitching with every new sound. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she rose from her slump, bone still in her mouth, and listened for this new sound. "I got it!" Lily recognized Nora's voice and looked over in time to watch Weiss Schnee get pegged in the face with an entire pie.

"Uhh, guys," she said to her teammates, "We should probably leave." Her teammates all looked at her with the same "why" expression on their faces and only after an open soda can flew over their heads did they realize what was going down. Team SEAL quickly gathered their things and booked it for the doors. Several other student groups began to join the escape as well as the fledgling food fight. Team SEAL was the first out of the dinning hall and they caught their breath from the side as the crowd flooded out of the building.

"Well, we dodged that bullet," sighed Spencer, "I am not up to cleaning shit out of our uniforms. Lets just head back upstairs and chill for awhile. Get out of these things and into more comfortable clothes."

"Amen to that brother," Aaron had already removed his tie and was unbuttoning his shirt. The four of them made their way across the common and towards the dorms. Evan looked up to watch a squadron of two Bullhead and four Spearhead VTOLS with Atlesian colors on them fly low over Beacon. _Premliminary security detail for dignitaries and high ranking officals. Wonder who's coming?_ Evan laughed to himself, remembering his scores on the Escort Simulators back at the academy in Atlas. _I wonder if I could fly something without breaking it now that I've got control over my semblance. _

As Team SEAL made their way back to the dorms, they were passed by Prof. Goodwitch who looked absolutely furious as she made her way towards the dinning hall. Close behind was Ozpin who simply shrugged and smiled as he passed his students. Lily started to laugh but was halted by an angry over-the-shoulder glare from Goodwitch and she continued back to her room with her teammates. Before they went inside Evan turned to watch the Atlesian VTOL squadron split into two smaller ones and split up.

"Friends of yours?" Asked Spencer.

"Maybe," Evan replied, "I wasn't exactly popular at the academy, but I probably know who they are." The VTOLs climbed higher into the sky and the roar from their engines began to peter out as they flew futher away. Evan's scroll buzzed as they went inside. _One new message_ it said, Evan tapped the mail icon and his eyes lit up when he saw the message.

_Hey there Sparky. Gonna be in Vale helping out with security. Thought maybe we could meet and catch up a bit. What do you say? Hope everything is going okay for ya. Oh! I got promoted to Captain finally. I even had a letter of recommendation from Gen. Ironwood. Seems the higher-ups are finally recognizing my potential. Well I'm assigned to the R.A.S. Aegis and she won't be anywhere near Vale for another month or so. But the Valvenideer, the San Helena, and the Chariot of Winter should be touching down there today. So I won't be seeing you for awhile. But I do know someone who should be arriving there soon who's dying to see you again. Anyway, stay safe out there in that big bad world. ~Capt. Glenn Rose_

Evan and Spencer walked through their dorm's entrance when he finished reading the memo. "Who was that?"

"That was my old CO. He's gonna be in Vale and wants to catch up. He called me Sparky though, which is weird."

"Why is that weird?"

"Only one person has ever called me Sparky. Only one person is ALLOWED to call me tha..." He trailed off his sentence as he realized something. "She's coming..."

His partner just looked at him confused as he changed into a pair of baggy black cargo shorts that were covered in pockets, chains, and paint marks. He also put on his red cut-off V-neck and reached for his grounding gloves. "I'm heading out for awhile."

"Okay dude." Said a Spencer who was curious about his partner's actions but mostly didn't care enough to pry.

Evan wore a black wool beanie that immediatly stuck to the static in his hair and then drapped down to his neck in the back as well a pair of spiked combat boots. He grabbed his scroll and exited the dorm and started down the hall. _What the hell is she doing in Vale? I thought she was up in Mantle on assignment. I'm sure she'll explain every top secret detail to me once she has a few drinks; like she always does. _He began to type out a message "_When are you getting here_?"

He tapped send and then pocketed his scroll. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. On the way down the elevator stopped on the first floor and when the doors opened a woman with flowing black hair and flamming amber eyes stood there and smiled at him when their eyes met before she joined him on the way down. Evan couldn't help but stare at her; she was gorgeous to him. Her figure was one that could start a 50 year war. She wore a black and grey plad short skirt, black knee-high socks that ended in red chuck taylor shoes, and a purple long-sleeved shirt that only covered one shoulder. He was falling fast by just looking at her but she noticed his gaze. "Can I help you Evan?" And that was it, the silky voice that slithered out of her perfect lips bored deep into his heart. "You know my name?" He stammered.

"There's only one student at Beacon who activly discharges electricity." Evan looked at his right arm and it was sparking more than it usually did. He suddenly became very embaressed and began to blush heavily. The black haired woman smiled and giggled softly.

The doors opened to the ground floor and she began to walk out into the residence lobby but she turned to face Evan once more. "My name is Cinder Fall. I do hope we meet again." She then winked and blew kiss in the form of a small heart made of fire that dissapated as it reached Evan's lips. She then walked away fully aware that his eyes were still watching her. Finally the doors closed on him and he regained his senses but couldn't shake her voice out of his head.

"Cinder Fall... I think I'm in love with you."

_**Author's Note: Yup, Cinder's gonna be a love interest for Gwryddlas but the story's focus isn't going to be on just him for too much longer, Lily Fotia has her story yet to be told so look forward to that. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a comment if you liked it. I could always use the feedback. **_

_**Next Time: Origins: Black Wind Wolf**_


	17. Chapter 17: Origins: Black Wind Wolf

**Origins: Black Wind Wolf**

"Lily Fotia versus Lie Ren. Let the match begin."

As soon as Goodwitch had released those words Lily rocketed towards her opponent; Igneus Lilith held in front of her as a shield and her other hand behind her supplying the thrust from her semblance. Her wild charge caught Ren off guard and he began to fire his auto-pistols at her, looking for a chink in her defences. But his aim was sloppy and her sword was too wide. Lily was getting closer as she readied Igneus Lilith for a wide slash and she gripped the handle tightly as the steel began to rapidly heat.

Ren readied his aura and crossed his pistol-blades in defence as the nodachi crashed down right between the blades. His aura shield was holding as Lily continued to press her attack and heat the massive sword. The steel was nearly white hot now and the Void-Freeze Dust particles were sparking to keep the sword from melting. Finally Lily shattered Ren's aura-shield and she swung again but he blocked with his raw blades this time. She gave him a determined smirk as smoke began to rise from where his blades met hers; Igneus Lilith was melting his guns.

Ren then swept Lily's legs out from under her giving him a chance to escape. As she fell to the ground he backflipped and jumped away from the faunus. It was clear to him that he would lose very quickly in close combat. He replaced the pistol mags and began a volley while running around his opponent. Hopefully she wouldn't be able to match his movements. Lily quickly lept to her feet and hid behind her sword which she had cooled to a more solid temperature. She couldn't see her opponent but she knew right where he was thanks to her faunus senses. She could smell him as clear as seeing him; gunpowder, lilacs, sweat, coffee, and silk. The barrage of dust shells stopped and before he could refresh his mags Lily vaulted over Igneus Lilith and outstretched her hands. She focused her aura into her palms and a loud WHOOOSH filled the room as two powerful streams of super-heated air rushed from the tiny girl's hands towards Ren. The only sign the air coloums were even there was the shimmering effect that the air does when heated. Ren misjudged the distance between him and the blast and he dived too late as he was caught by the heated air.

The energy in her blast sent him tumbling several feet before jamming one of his blades into the ground to keep his position. The heat was emense and it hurt his face to look forward but when he looked away his body created more drag and was more likely to fly away. As his hair began to singe his aura dropped into the red and he released his grip. Lily stopped her attack, thinking she had won. But a fresh volley from his SMGs caught her by surprise and she stagged has her aura barelly had enough time to deflect the bullets. Something had finally clicked inside Ren's head and his Kung Foo muscle-memory reasserted itself. He charged at her and landed two palm-strikes right into Lily's gut. She screamed and rolled away, winded. Igneus Lilith tumbled away from her and she struggled to stand. Ren stood near her sword and fired upon her again.

Lily rolled away barelly dodging the first set of shells. Ren's body seemed to move on it's own as he struggled to keep his eyes open as the seemed to sink further back into his sleep-deprived skull. His guns clicked to let him know that he was out of ammo. He reached for another set of mags, but his hands found none. He looked over at Lily who was standing now, catching her breath for for split second before adopting a stance on all fours. She snarled at the man who stood between her and her massive beloved sword; her wolf and hunter instincts switching on.

_I have to hold this ground, she gets this sword back, the fight will go in her favor again. And I might just lose. What would Dad do? _Ren sheathed his SMGs and readied himself. Lily rushed him and jabbed at his right set of ribs but Ren grabbed her wrist and manuvered her so that her momentum would send her past his body. But she dug her heels into the vinyl floor and sunk her teeth into Ren's hand. Her bite, which drew blood, only seemed to frenzy her even more. Ren released his grip on her and crossed his arms to counter an upwards kick. He could clearly see up her skirt but his vision was begining to blur from exhaustion. He pushed the wolf-girl back and blocked another set of chest jabs with his uninjured wrist. Lily then grabbed his arm and vaulted herself over Ren's head and bit his neck. He cried out in pain and tried to push her away.

_This is no longer a sparring match to her,_ he thought,_ she's actually trying to kill me. I have to end this now._ Her movements were now much more predictable, but they contained a ferocity that kept Ren on his toes. He swung a windmill kick at his neck which he was just barelly able to dodge and then he ducked to the floor and swept Lily's other leg out from undernieth her while her kicking leg was still in the air. He hit the ground hard and Ren landed a blow to her diaphram with his elbow. She gasped for air as Goodwitch called the match and the lights went up again.

Both Aaron and Evan lept from the stands to assist their teamate. Ren helped Lily to her feet before her teamates took control of the situation. Evan just glared at Ren before saying anything and wrapping Lily's left arm around his shoulder, "I'm sorry for her, We've never seen her like this."

"Think nothing of it," Ren replied with an apologetic bow, "please forgive me for her injuries." Ren went and grabbed Igneus Lilith which seemed to burn his hand when he first grabbed her handle. But when he touched the nodachi again, the metal was cool and he hefted the sword over his shoulder to return it to its master. Lily was slowly becoming able to walk on her own again. Lily growled at Ren as he approached her, still wanting to hunt, but restrained by Aaron and Evan. She stopped as he offered her sword back to her and gained her senses again. Her ears folded down in shame as she smelled the singed hair, burned silk, and dried blood off of Ren. Eyes glanced from her sword to Ren's bloody hand, then to the teeth marks on his neck, and then to the floor. She grabbed Igneus Lilith from the man she had just tried to kill and walked off the stage and towards the locker rooms; not noticing the pair of amber eyes that followed her with narrowed suspicion.

The bell rang as Lily changed back into her school uniform and fitted Igneus Lilith back into her locker. She just starred at the polished steel of the five-foot blade. It was just barelly shorter than she was yet she wielded it with ease. The blade shone with a silvery-blue iridessence, a product of the Freeze-Dust that was forged into it. Lily ran her hands up from the handle, across the width and then along the edge all the way to the top. At the top center was the symbol she had adopted as her own: a six-pointed hollow sun. She traced every line and every shaded area with her hands before noticing a change in the ambient sent of the locker room. _Faunus_, she thought, and she whirled around, slamming her locker shut behind her. Blake Belladonna stood in the middle of the room with crossed arms.

"Black-Wind Lily, Privateer, White Fang, Vacuo Division. What are you doing here?" Blake's voice was sultry and not playing games; her slanted eyebrows made that clear to anyone. Lily was shocked to hear her birth name for the first time since she had come to Vale 2 years ago.

"How the hell did you... wait.." Lily stalked towards Blake and sniffed her carefully, "You're Adam's follower, aren't you?"

"WAS," Blake hissed, "I want nothing to do with him or the White Fang. Which brings me back to my first question, what are you doing here? Because if you're connected to Torchwick in anyway, then it's my duty to stop you."

"HA, seriously? You seriously think I'd work that bunch of ingrate animals? Do you know nothing of my history with the White Fang?" Blake noticed the temperature in the room was slowly rising as Lily spoke.

"I know only what I've read in reports and what I've heard by reputation."

"Then you know less than I expected you too," Lily circled Blake once again to look her in the eye, "I get that you hate the White Fang, I do, but you were born into it's services. My village was forced. We had nothing but a concrete wall and the sea to protect us from potential Grimm attacks. Vacuo's government wasn't interested in helping protect an improverished fishing village on the Skeleton Coast. The White Fang extorted recruits and money from us in return for protection. We didn't have a choice. Taurus and Elephaz Rex constantly threatened to tear our walls down and feed us the the Wurms out in the desert if we didn't fight for them." Blake started to say something but was cut off by Lily who was now in her face, "So don't you dare accuse me of wanting to aid the White Fang Machete Belladona." Blake's eye's widened at hearing her old nickname.

Lily spat at Blake's feet and stalked out of the lockerroom, he tail swishing back and forth on its own.

**_Author's Note: Holy shit, that was a long one. And so begin's Lily Fotia's (or should I say Black-Wind Lily's) origin saga. You'll learn more in a few chapters, but next time Evan and Cinder's love story begins to really heat up._**


	18. Chapter 18: The Two Snakes

**_The Two Snakes_**

The second semester was now two whole months into its full swing. All the exchange students that were going to arrive for the Vytal festival had already arrived and were acclimated to life at Beacon. The same was true for the resident students; especially the freshmen, they had four months to get used to eachother and now they had to get used to another three schools' worth of strangers.

For some this was easier than others. After a week of shy flirting on Evan's end, he finally found the courage to ask the mysterious Cinder Fall out on a date. It was clear as glass that she was into him, but when she said yes to him it still completely blew him away. He wasted no single Lien on their first date and she fell for him. The rest of their time together seemed to blur into days of skipping class to make out on the roof or lose themselves in music and blankets. Everywhere he went, there she was, hanging on his arm, almost as if she needed him to live. She did this inspite of his semblance constantlly discharging into his surroundings. In fact she seemed to love the feeling of the static that poured out.

Cinder was practically part of Team SEAL now, which annoyed Spencer and Aaron on account of her messing up their team dynamic. However, Lily did not like Cinder at all. The first time Evan had brought Cinder up to their room Lily couldn't stop herself from growling at her when she stepped through the door. From the outside, Lily's actions bordered closely on jealousy. While she did find Evan attractive, he didn't hold her heart like Aaron did.

Lily was concerned about her teamate being used by a seemingly "too perfect" woman. She know how emotionally volitile he could be and she began following them around; looking for signs that would prove her theory. Her wolf skills allowed her to stalk her "prey" with realitive ease.

One day, after one of Oobleck's lectures, she had tracked the couple to the library where she continued to spy on them from behind one of the moniters. She was so focused on looking for irregularities in Cinder's behavior that she didn't notice the hulking figure behind her. Spencer tapped her shoulder and she jumped with a small, stiffled yelp. She turned to see an unhappy Spencer who just motioned for her to follow. She got up from her seat and followed her leader out of the library without glancing back at her target; not noticing Cinder look her way with suspcious eyes of her own.

"You know, you all certainly like to make my life difficult. Between his skipping class honeymoon phase and your snooping. And A.K's all pissy latelly, or fucking team is fucked up right now." Spencer leaned against the wall stroking his beard while he explained his frustrations to Lily.

"What's Aaron so upset about? Is he jealous of Evan and Cinder?"

Spencer sighed, "In a way, you could say that." He placed his hand over his face and looked off into the distance, chossing his words carefully. "A.K. is jealous of Evan, but not because of that sucubis. How do I say this, A.K. likes you but he thinks you like Evan more because of your stalking of Evan and Cinder."

Lily simple just looked at him, shocked with her tail begining to wag more and more.

"You know, I really do hate being the middleman in this situation. Evan and I have been waiting, literally, since we all met for you and A.K. to just tell eachother who you feel. So I really think you should go find and talk to him. Then our team will be one step closer to functioning again." Spencer rubbed Lily's head between her ears and she bashfully smiled with a wagging tail. "Don't worry, there's no way you could possibly screw up. So just forget about that she-leech and go talk to him."

Lily nodded and ran of towards their room. Spencer let out a smile and a sigh of relief, _I swear, I love those three but it's like herding cats most of the time._ He walked back in the library to find Evan but both he and Cinder were gone.

Lily found herself both grinning and sprinting through the hallways along the path to the dorms. She forgot all about her suspicions and worries concerning Evan's new girlfriend. But they all flooded back as the very woman she had spent the better part of the day following suddenly rounded the corner in front of Lily. "Hello Lily, I was wondering if we could talk a little." Cinder's silky voice snaked it's way into Lily's head and she stopped in her tracks.

"Go on then," she replied, "I'm listening"

"I know you've been following us. I know it's not because you're jealous, you're just worried." He voice was both comforting and condecending; as if she were speaking to a toddler. Cinder walked closer to Lily. She was only a few inches taller but she was close enough that Lily had to look up in order to speak to her. Cinder ran her soft, pale hand over Lily's ears and down her braid. "I really do care for Evan. I care for him deeply. I would never try to hurt him."

She smelled of both mint and charcoal as well as some of Evan's cologne. Lily could tell that what she was saying was true, but it didn't make her feel any better. _If she cares about him so much, why's she coming onto me so hard right now? _Cinder had slowly backed Lily against the wall and pressed their hips together. Cinder gave the confused Lily an evil smirk before kissing her lips. It was a slow and passionate kiss which seemed to light a fire in Lily so much that she didn't even resist; such was the scale of Cinder's manipulative skills. Eventually Lily gave in and kissed back, swirling her tongue around Cinder's and closing her eyes. Feeling like she accomplished her goal, Cinder pulled away from the faunus very slowly. Lily opened her eyes and starred back in a dazed state. Cinder smiled and walked away before turning over her shoulder for one final passing word,

"I do hope we can all be friends Lily. I would never hurt any of you."

**_And there it is. The seductress Cinder. _**

**_Next time, "The Night Before."_**


	19. Chapter 19: Nightmares

"_**Nightmares"**_

"3 Days before Mission Day"

Evan collapsed onto his bed, exhausted from training. Quallifying for the Vytal festival Tornament was big on his mind right now and he had to get into better shape before the end of the semister. _I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a bit then I'll... I'll.. fuck... _As soon as his eyes closed he fell asleep, but it wasn't his usual blackout-coma type of sleep, Evan fell into a dreaming rem.

He came to and Cinder was there, walking in front of him with the sway that she knew drove him crazy. She was wearing her Haven uniform and he was wearing his Beacon uniform but they weren't in school. They were deep in the Emerald Forest heading towards the ruins were the initiation relics were on the second day of school. The sun was low in the sky and the sky was a bright orange as a result. Cinder turned around to face him while walking backwards. A breeze tugged at her flowing black hair sending it in every direction, but only very slightly. The setting sun lit her amber eyes aflame and they burned with a beauty that left him speechless. She said nothing but gave him a soft smile and turned around to keep walking.

They exited the treeline and Evan followed his girlfriend across the open field towards the forest temple. He looked around remembering the day he had met his team. Thick black smoke billowed up into the sky from where they had defeated the Mastodon. The breeze had stopped and the air was as silent as it was still. The only sound was that of their footprints. Cinder walked into the center of the temple and turned to face her boyfriend. The sun was obscurred by the hills now but her eyes glowed even brighter. Her hair behaved as if it was inside of a wind-tunnel. Evan stepped back off of the stone floor as he looked at his beloved Cinder; her eyes burned with a sinister yellow-orange flame. She smiled at him again and licked her lips in such a way that it gave him chills across his entire body. She raised her arms and began to wretch as if something was stuck in her throat. Evan ran to help her but he was stricken with an incredible pain.

He fell to his knees and gripped his chest with his left arm. It was like his tatoo was coming to life under his skin. He looked up at Cinder who was vomitting out flaming black oil. With every heave she became more and more skelletal; like there was nothing really inside her but this burning, black sludge. Evan began to feel sick himself but nearly blacked out from the pain he now experienced. His shirts began to smolder and burn away as lightning arcs began to pour out of his flesh from where his skin was begining to rip open. As the charred remains of his dress shirts fell to the ground the serpent from his tatoo gained a life of its own as a glowing rattlesnake of lightning. It coiled around it's master as it began to rattle and hiss at the shrivled and burning frame that was once Cinder Fall. She vomitted out one final glob of flaming oil and laughed a demonic laugh as she turned to white ash joined with the black oil and it all began to pull towards itself. The oil rose and swelled to form an enflamed black viper that bared its fangs towards the Rattler that defended Evan.

The two elemental snakes remained in a stand off until the flame viper lunged Evan. The rattlesnake tightened its coils and the viper glanced off of the shield of energy. The rattlesnake then dug its fangs into the viper's belly and it bled a mix of glowing blue venom and oil as black as Grimm blood. It cried out in pain and struggled to shake the thunder snake off. It bucked and writhed until the rattlesnake flew off and crashed through a series of pillers. The viper turned its attention towards Evan again, who could barely stand. It slithered towards him leaving a trail of burning sludge behind it like some kind of hell-slug. It circled it's prey and rose like a cobra. A tongue of flames would flick out of it's eyeless head every few seconds. Evan reached out for his semblance's auto-defense system, but nothing was there. His aura hadn't even repaired the damage to his skin. Evan starred up in horror as the viper slowly opened its mouth to devour him. Burning oil dripped from it's fangs and a smell like jet-fuel wafted out of its gapping maw.

Evan prepared himself for the end but no end came as his rattlesnake lunged at the viper's throat. The two snakes continued bite and hiss at each other; niether one giving in to the other. Evan struggled to his feet and staggered towards a nearby piller. He reached out for the piller as the strength in his legs began to fade and he fell forward into the stones on the ground. His vision began to blur but he could see the two serpents coiled around eachother; each trying to choke the life out of the other. With a final hiss from both they collectively exploded in a flurry of sparks and smoke. Evan shielded his face from the shockwave and he looked out of his fingers to see a small snake of energy slithering towards him. He felt complelled to reach out to the electric reptile and it coiled up his left arm, slithered around his chest, and coiled back down his right arm. It sunk back into his skin and healed the wounds it had created when it left.

All his pain went away immediatly and he stood up without effort. Ash from Cinder's remains fell from the sky and began to blanket everything in a greyish-white coat; including Evan himself. The sun was now gone but no stars were out. Luna and her debris-ring were all covered by clouds and a gentle rain began to fall along with the ash. Evan ran for the treeline; fear fueling his movements. The rain came down harder and began mixing with the still falling ash to create a kind of cement. He tried to run faster but the cement mixture slowed him down and weighed him down. He fell down and tried to crawl to the safety of the treeline but was quickly buried. He tried to scream and cry for help.

_"_SPENCER! AARON! LILY! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!_" _No answer came, no one was there. _"_Please help me. Somebody..._" _Tears began to well up in his eyes as the ash and rain continued to bury him. _After all this, I've ended up alone. But that's okay, I knew it would happen like this. I'm just a danger to everyone. Cinder betrayed me and my friends are gone. I'm ready go. _He closed his eyes and cried deeply as the ash completely buried him. This new world was black and silent save for the ever fainter sound of rain on concrete. The tears had stopped but Evan's feelings of isolation and anguish persisted.

The concrete binding his arms and legs had disappeared and he found enough room to sit up straight and pull his legs to his chest. He called out to his guardian snake, but even his own semblance had deserted him. He was completely alone now. He didn't cry out, wish for company, or even try to escape, he only wished for death. He had been suicidal before, but even then he could never bring himself to do the deed. Even now, he couldn't do it. He wished the divines would show mercy on him and end his anguish.

"Why do you weep?"

Evan looked up from the ground and searched the darkness for this new voice. It was a deep male voice filled with twisted concern; like it wanted to make some kind of deal.

"I'm alone in this world. Everyone around me rejects or betrays me at some point."

"Are you giving up?" The voice was louder now.

"No, I just wish someone would help me. But there's nobody here." Evan buried his face again from sight.

"I am. I am here. I always have been. You need only ask."

Evan's mood changed to a more hopeful one and he began to dig his way out of the hardened ash. It was still raining but all of Cinder's ashes had stopped falling. He stood on top of the ashen landscape and streched his limbs out. He looked around for the source of the voice he had heard. It was still pitch black out but at least he could feel the rain falling on his skin and that anchored him to reality. Slowly he noticed a light was getting closer to him from behind and he turned around to face the blinding light. Gradually he could hear heavy footsteps. What came into view surprised Evan even after all he had already seen. It was a dinosaur. It walked on two long and powerful legs, had no arms, a long tail that counter-balanced it's massive horned head. It was white and glowing like the paladins of old but it's eyes were darker than the void around them and they radiated a feeling of dread to all that looked inside of them. And it spoke to Evan.

"You are never alone, you are never weak, you have me inside of you. My power is yours. You need only call upon it." The therapod loomed over him as it spoke these words of reassurance. Evan stood in terrified comfort and didn't resist as the dinosaur grabbed him with its jaws and swallowed him whole.

With that Evan shuddered awake in his room. He was covered in sweat and his blankets were all torn up. He sat up and looked at his scroll. It was 3:37am. He looked around the room trying to make sure he wasn't still in that dreamscape. Spencer was asleep with his scroll in hand, Aaron was snorring with his headphones on, and Lily was curled up in her sheets. _Everyone is still here. That was a fucked up dream. _

**_Author's Note: Well that ended up more emotional than I originally intended. I hope y'all enjoyed that though._**

**_For that dinosaur towards the end, if you have trouble visualizing it, just think of something like Carnotaurus or Mujungatholus._**

**_But on a more serious note, if you or someone you know is considering suicide or self harm in any fashion, get help. Help can be anything from sitting down with them and talking things out to calling the cops (hopefully it won't go that far though). Sometimes we just need to know somebody cares. I got help and I'm glad I did._**

**_Thank You All For Reading!_**


	20. Chapter 20: Intentions

**_"Intentions" _**

2 days before Mission Day

~Dance is tomorrow~

Lily's ears were tilted down slightly as she nervously walked down the faculty office hallway. She had a meeting scheduled with Prof. Azura, whom she had had meetings with before, but she still felt nervous walking down the long silent hallway. The carpet on the floor muffled all but the heaviest of footsteps. The only sounds were the air vents providing their circulation to the building and the classical music wafting out of Dr. Ooblek's office. His door was always open and he could be seen inside typing articles and papers in a caffine fueled flurry. Lily found it hard to keep up with his lectures (as did almost everyone else). Evan and Nora were the only two people she knew of that could keep up with him. Lily theorized that because they themselves were always so caffed-up and hyper that they were able to see Dr. Ooblek from the vantage of his own timeline; making it so that he appears normal and everyone else appears slow.

Lily rounded the corner past Prof. Port's office and approached Azura's door. She knocked. "Come on in," said an almost excited Azura. Lily opened the door and Azura got up to hug her without saying a word. Both of them were about the same height, but other features of Azura's were more, well-developed than Lily's. She pulled away from the wolf-girl and smiled. "How are you Lily?"

"I'm doing okay Proffessor. But I wanted to talk to you about a couple things."

"Of course, of course, sit down, please." Azura sat behind her small desk at the end of the room. The room itself was covered in bookshelves that were stacked with books of all kinds. Azura claimed she never added books to her collection here if she hadn't read them at least three times beforehand. Behind her desk was the office's one window which looked out over Beacon's rear courtyard. Lily's nose was filled with the overwhelming scent of aging books. Lily always felt relaxed here and as soon as she took her seat she felt drowsy.

"Now then, what's on your mind? Still having trouble with those flight techniques?"

"Oh, uhmm, yes proffessor," Lily spoke unprepared for a question right away, "I can only manage to hover a few feet off the ground. Any higher and I lose control. Not very effective in battle."

"Well you told me you always thought you could use it to fly. So obviously you want to master it. So what's holding you back?"

"I don't know, what if my aura can't handle sustained flight? Raw power isn't enough to keep me flying, what if I fall out of the sky or off a cliff. I think I'll just stick to my usual stuff."

"It's your descision Lily, but I highly suggest you keep practicing. Now what else did you want to talk about? The dance is tomorrow, has anyone asked you to go?"

"Well... no," Lily became flustered and shy. Azura leaned in closer to hear why one of her favorite students hadn't been asked out. "That's actually why I wanted to talk to you today. Uhmmm," Lily's eyes moved around the room searching for the right words, "Well, I'm going to ask Aaron out."

"Your teamate Aaron? Rockstar Aaron? The Shredder of Beacon? I knew you liked him," Azura now wore a huge grin across her face.

"Yeah, well I'm not really sure how to go about asking... The Shredder of Beacon?"

"You like it? That's what a bunch of the exchange students have started calling him. More so now after he blew away SSSN's Scarlet in a class match."

"Well, I don't how to ask him. I already know he likes me and that just makes me really nervous and I can't talk to him and he's my partner and I just really, really need some advice proffesor."

Azura leaned back in her chair and smiled at her student. "My dear Lily," she said, "all interpersonal relationships start from us talking to one another."

"Well, how did you and Proffessor Cole start dating?"

"I didn't really give him a choice," Azura laughed at her memories of her and her husband's early years together. "Lily, this is how it is. Men act all gruff and shit because they think it impresses us. And sometimes it does, but they're all insecure. Sometimes you just have to jump in head-first and make the first move. Aaron likes you, it's clear as day, but he doesn't know that you share his feelings. That uncertaintly will paralyze men. Show him you care about him and the gears will fall into place. Trust me, this stuff will work itself out."

Lily's tail wagged slightly showing that her mood as well as her confidence was better. She sprung up from her chair and hugged her mentor. "Thanks a lot Azura."

"Anytime dear. Now go knock him off his feet."

* * *

_Hey Aaron, I need to tell you something. Meet me out front in 10min. Its important. _*CLICK* Lily hit send and her heart was beating hard in her chest as she starred at her scroll waiting for a reply. Her scroll vibrated as she recieved her reply and it caught her off guard even though she was starring right at her screen. Lily read his simple reply to her emotionally invested-in message and she laughed to herself. "_Sure thing"_ it said. And she took off for the front entrance fountain. She decided to take the long way so he would get there first.

When she got outside she saw Aaron leaning against the concrete wearing his bomber jacket with his headphones on. She sniffed the air: cologne, leather, and HIS scent. Her heart fluttered as she exhaled. She paused for a moment as her determination began to faulter but she remembered Azura's words of advice and her determination flooding back and then some. Lily walked towards Aaron who took his headphones off when he saw her approaching.

"Hey Lil, what did you ne..." Lily had grabbed his face and kissed him with as much passion as she could muster. Aaron stood there stunned for a few seconds before giving in to her, dropping his expensive headphones on the ground, and putting his arms around her; pulling her against him. When she finally pulled away both of them were bright red.

"Hey," he said shyly, still holding Lily in his arms.

"Hey," she said back, "want to take me to the dance tomorrow?"

"I'd love nothing better."

They both laughed and kissed again in front of the setting sun.

* * *

Author's Note: I finally figured out how the make the line-thingies appear! Well there you have it, AK and Lily have finally ended up together. The filler chapters are almost finished as well as Grimm Horizon's parallels with the main show. I'm not gonna give any hints, but be prepared for some heavy ass shit!

BTW, Prof. Azura is from RejectedKnight34's amazing fanfic RWBY: Sunshine and Shadows. I highly suggest you go read it. Thank you all for reading!


	21. Chapter 21: Dance Goodbye

**Author's Note: Three months is too long to stew over one chapter. Life kinda happened and school got heavy. Depression really sucks because you never want to anything. But I'm finally getting a grip on everything so HOPEFULLY I'll be posting on a somewhat regular schedule. **

* * *

*Dance is in Five Hours*

*Mission Day is Tomorrow*

Spencer sat next to his date and squinted at the small TV in their room. He had asked out a sophmore Faunus with bright ivory hair. In fact Ivory was her name, Abigail Ivory. At first glance you wouldn't think she was a faunus but the larger-tan-normal fangs in her mouth and her extremelly erratic behavior gave away her weasel/ferret heritage. Spencer prided himself at being the best gamer on their floor, although Evan and Juane would never admit it, and Abigail was kicking his ass in Call of Honor: Heros of Atlas.

His button strikes were filled with frustration but it was the kind of feeling that contained a certain amount of relief and even joy. _It's actually kinda nice to be losing for once._ "Ha!" He exclaimed, "I've got you know!"

His avatar sprinted towards her's and swung with his rifle. To Spencer's surprise, the butt of his rifle merely phased through a hologram as a rocket from somewhere off screen sped towards him. There was no escaping the blast radius and the round was over. Abigail sprung up from her chair and yelled excitedly, nearly throwing her controller. "Let's play again Spenc! We still have like four or five hours until the dance starts. Plenty of time for you to try and beat me."

"Ehh, let's take a break from this for awhile." Spencer laid back on his bed and Abigail curled up next to him. Closer than he would have prefered at this stage, but he didn't protest. Aaron and Lily were off in town somewhere making up for all the time they spent not being together. Probably spraying graffiti all over the factory district or the docks and running away from the cops while holding hands. Spencer laughed at the thought.

Evan was going to be gone most of the day. His old CO was in town helping out with Atlus security and the two of them were having a drink somewhere, catching up. Spencer's mind began to wander and his eyes started to grow kind of heavy. But his eyes shot back open.

Abigail noticed this and she sprung up to a sitting postition in the blink of an eye. "What's up?"

He looked around the room and then back to her.

"Its nothing."

"Uhmmm, obviously its not. Come on, you can tell me."

"Well, everything is changing so fast. My teamates are all paired off, me included, and we hardly spend any time together like we used to at the begining of our freshman year. I'm happy we've all found people, but I'm worried none the less."

"Worried about what?"

"I don't know. For one, I absolutely do not trust Evan's girlfriend, Cinder. I feel like there's more to her than she's letting on; and not in a good way. We've got our first mission tomorrow, and I know those three will want to do something crazy. Especially Evan," he looked up at the faunus girl who was just smiling at him, "I really think they paired me up with a psychopath. He's insane. You know he sits on top of the building during storms hoping that lightning will strike him?"

Abigail let out a soft laugh that made Spencer's heart speed up a few beats.

"I just..." He said, looking up at the ceiling, "I just feel like something isn't right with the world right now. The sunsets have been ominous and evil since the year started and crime is skyrocketing in the city. This whole world is fucked up. Even my dreams. The other night I dreamt some kind of aetherial white dinosaur ate me inside the auditorium. That can't be a good sign."

Spencer opened his mouth to continue his rant be he was stopped by a gentle kiss on his unshaven cheek. Abigail looked down at him and smiled calmly. "Don't worry Spenc, things always work out in the end. You just keep on being awesome and if anything does happen, you'll be ready for it."

Spencer had no reply other than a bright red color across his face.

* * *

Music could be heard wafting out from the ballroom for several blocks and a steady stream of couples and students filed in. Cinder and Evan were the first among those associated with Team SEAL. Both of the mages wore completely black outfits, except for Evan's azure tie which Cinder straightened as they entered the event. She smiled her gentle, but devious, smile and kissed her boyfriend before continuing inside. Her black, single-shouldered dress glittered from every angle and the couple were followed by more than a few jealous sets of eyes. Next to enter was Spencer and Abigail. He wore a grey suit jacket and black everything else which complimented Abigail's ivory dress. Yang simply winked at him as they entered the ballroom.

Next to enter were the two remaining members of Team SEAL. Aaron was dressed rather casually with a red button-up shirt that wasn't tucked in and a pair of dark gray jeans ending in solid black high-tops. But Yang stood in awe of Lily as Aaron escorted her in.

Her dress wasn't made of any expensive fabric nor did it glitter from the lights. It was a hand-woven silk dress that had a color that reminded Yang of tanned leather. It was decorated with elaborate tribal paintings of wolves hunting and killer whales leaping out of a formless ocean. Lily's bushy tail had free range of motion and her happiness was clear from the way it wagged wildly. Lily's hair was braided into a single cord which hung down the center of her back and on top of her head she wore a crown of Eagle feathers.

Yang watched her walk by and smiled shyly at the near perfect couple. _Holy shit, why do I feel so hot? _Yang subtly adjusted her dress in an attempt to vent the uncomfortable feeling. She thought maybe she was attracted to one or both of them for a split second but then she noticed the heat-haze above Lily's head. Yang shed a sigh of relief and scanned the room for Blake.

* * *

Team SEAL stood and watched as Team JNPR stood in the middle of the floor and danced together in a mannor that was in no way spontaneous.

"I bet this was Nora's idea," Evan scoffed into his drink. Cinder had stepped out over 20min ago and hadn't returned. Evan was worried at 15min, now he was just annoyed. _Seriously, where the fuck could she be. It's gonna be midnight soon. _Evan's thought train was interupted by someone grabbing his arm for balance. He looked down and starred back into half-glazed over green eyes. He recognized her as Reese Chloris from Team ABRN of Haven. Her Teal hair was messy and she wore a cheap black dress with high top shoes. Evan could smell a gross stench on her person. Lily smelled it too and she looked over at the skater girl. _Was she smoking weed?_ He looked closer and her eyes were bloodshot. She just starred up at him with a half-open mouth.

"You okay Reese?" He asked. She didn't react for a few seconds and her mouth curled into a lazy, wide smile. She blinked but held her gaze.

"You're... you're pretty..." she started laughing at nothing. "You wanna get out of here?" She pressed herself against his arm which made every chemical in his body surge all at once. Reese was so blazed that the shocks she recieved from Evan's semblance only made her giggle more. "Where's that.. that.. witch.. whatshername that's always hanging on ya?"

"Uhmm," he said, obviously flustered, "I don't know. She said she wouldn't be long but that was like half an hour ago."

Reese continued to giggle from the electricity. "You should dump that bitch. She's just weighing you down and she doesn't seem like any fun. But I AM tons of fun." Reese let go of Evan's arm and teetered away and held out her arms in an invitation to dance with her. Evan just looked at her with amazment.

_She's crazy to come to an event like this high. I think I better get her back to her room. _"Come on," he said, "I think you've had enough fun for one night." He gently, but firmly grabbed her arm and lead her to a nearby Atlas Knight. "Unit, this woman is ill, I ask that you escort her back to her room." Any other soldier would have probably reported that she was under the influence but the drones would only check identity.

The Knight lowered its rifle and placed it on its back. "_Acknowledged." _It said with its deep autotune voice. "_Please, come this way Miss Chloris." _

_"_Eeeeevvvvaaaannn, you're no fuuuunn." She pouted on her way out but winked at Evan as she left the ballroom. His heart fluttered for a split second but was snapped back to reality when his eye caught the distinct glitter of Cinder's dress.

* * *

The clock had ticked over to midnight. Evan made his way through the crowd towards where he saw Cinder dancing with Mercury. _I cannot allow this. _His emotions going crazy inside him, his deep brown eyes shifted to a bright, glowing, electric-blue. Blue met with his girlfriend's glowing yellow eyes and she smiled meekly at him, guilty of leaving him for so long and now dancing with another guy. Evan grabbed Mercury's shoulder. Cinder knew better than to stay in contact with Mercury in this situation as he fell to his knees as 50,000 volts poured into his body. He clutched his legs and struggled to his feet with some help from Emerald who came over. Luckily everyone else at the dance ignored the emerging scene, except for the ever vigilant Spencer.

"What the hell is your problem?" Mercury spat.

"My problem is you feeling up my girlfriend."

"We were dancing you psycho."

"Your hands were practically on her ass you smug perv. I don't care if she's your team leader or partner. She's my girlfriend. Besides, didn't you come here with Emerald?"

Mercury's face showed an increased level of frustration. He hated everyone at Beacon and he relished any excuse to fight them. "Why don't we take this outside?"

"Fine be me. I'll melt your fucking feet to the ground!" Evan stuck his face right into Mercury's and an arc jumped between their faces. Mercury whinced and staggered backwards and moved to throw a punch but Cinder stepped in front of Evan and faced her subordinate.

"Mercury, stand down." Her voice was a smooth as ever but her voice was twinged with anger. "Take Emerald back to our dorm. I think you've had enough for tonight. We'll discuss this later."

He looked at her with eyes that said 'are you serious right now?' Her eyes narrowed and he relaxed. He gestured to Emerald and they both left silently.

Cinder let out a sigh of relief and put her arms around Evan's neck. "I'm so sorry for leaving you like that. I had to make an important call. About some... personal matters. You understand, right?" Her voice had an amazing calming effect on Evan, it was the major reason he fell for her.

"Yes, I understand."

"Now then," she pressed herself against him in a very sexual manner, something she seldom ever did. Their relationship was mostly an emotional one; both of them drinking in eachother's pressence like solar panels drink up sunlight. "I'm tired of all this commotion around us. Let's go someplace private." Cinder withdrew herself from Evan's embrace and lead him out of the dwindling crowd; a wicked smile pasted across her face.

No one else noticed the two snakes exit the ballroom except Spencer, who's eyes never left his partner and his girlfriend.

* * *

Evan struggled to open his room's door under the barrage of desire that Cinder fired upon him. Not a minute after they closed the door behind them Cinder tore open his shirt and pinned him to the floor. Her kisses left Evan's mouth and moved to his neck. His eyes switched to their electric-blue as his emotions and chemicals began to go crazy. Cinder stopped kissing and began to run her tongue down his neck, across his chest, and down towards his waist; a small flurry of static sparks followed her tongue wherever it went on his body.

"I love you Cinder!" Evan was surprised at what he blurted out. It was true, and he wanted to tell her, but that had always ended bad in the past.

Cinder shot up on his lap and looked both shocked and excited but also sad.

"What's wrong baby?" Evan asked suddenly worried.

"I...it's nothing... I... I love you too... its just..."

"Just what?"

"I'm just sooo hungry. I truly am sorry..."

With that final remark she sunk her teeth into his shoulder; ignoring the increasing voltage of his auto-defense semblance. Evan cried out in pain as her teeth drew blood. She rose to look at him and a single glittering tear fell from her face before a bundle of black tendrils emerged from her mouth and attached themselves to his bare chest and covered his mouth. Evan tried to call out for help but his cries were muffled. He could feel the energy inside of him leaving. The lightning dust in his tattoos began to fade in color and he soon became increasingly tired. But right as eyes were about to close his chest shot up and began to convolse. He felt a sudden surge of power from inside his core.

He grabbed the tendrils and pulled them off of his skin. The came out of Cinder's mouth at the same time and they writhed on the floor. She screamed in pain as the tendrils leaked a sparking blue fluid before slithering back to their original host.

"PLEASE, I NEED IT!" Cinder yelled at Evan before trying to attack him again. Instinctively he sent a surge of electricity through the floor towards the fluid that had leaked out of the tendrils. It instantly vaporized as it came in contact with a live current and Evan inhaled deep as his semblance; his soul returned to him. He then dodged Cinder's desperate lunge and sprung to his feet and charged his aura. Live bolts began to jump from his body and his tattoos.

"Cinder," he pleaded, "I don't know what's going on. But I don't want to hurt you."

Her back was turned away from him but he could see that she was having trouble breathing. A pool of black liquid was forming at her feet and as she turned to face him with burning yellow eyes, he could her mouth was covered in the same liquid. "I'm so sorry..." She lunged at him again, this time tackling him to the ground. Firey and frenzied yellow starred back into paniced and sparking blue. Evan saw only anguish and hunger in her eyes. Whatever he had loved was gone now and tears of his own began to fall. He struggled to buck her off before she started to drain his aura again. He tried pushing her off, still reluctent to harm his girlfriend.

_It's you or her_.

Evan focused every volt into his hands and he placed them on Cinder's face. "Forgive me," and Evan discharged. Cinder screamed and writhed from the electricity and she released him. They both staggered to their feet and exchanged one final look before Cinder jumped out the window. Evan ran to catch her but she had hit the ground by the time he reached to window. He looked out expecting a tangled corpse but she was gone. She had escaped alive. Evan exhaled, relieved and sank the floor.

Both snakes quitely wept to themselves because both Cinder and Evan knew that no matter what, their lives would never again intertwine.


	22. Chapter 22: Takeoff

_**Author's Note: There are a few things that I want to clarify from chapter 21.**_

_**The first being the amount of voltage Evan used on Mercury during the dance. 50,000v sounds like a lot, but that actually equates to about .0021 Amps. That's the amount of electricity that an X26 Taser uses and even then that voltage decreases once it enters the body. So its not like he shoved a cattle-prod into Mercury, he merely stunned him. BTW, some cattle-prods run on over 5,000,000v. I'm not exactly sure how much that is in Amps without knowing the exact wattage but the equation is fairly simple if y'all are feeling the challenge. Amps will kill you, not volts. **_

_I_(A) = _P_(W)/_V_(V)

_**I was never great in physics class but I just find it all so interesting.**_

_** Secondly, the Evan x Cinder romance arc. I've gotten mixed reviews on it, since Evan is my actuall name some have stated that the arc seems like self shipping. I would like to point out that this is not my intention. Evan Gwryddlas and I merely share a name. While he started out as a characture of myself I'd like to think, as his creator, that he's evolved past that into his own person. I've also heard that because of Cinder's nature and goals, she is unable to reciprocate feelings like love. Personally I think that is unacceptable. Whatever power she has and hunger's for, underneath that she is still human. And humans are ruled by our emotions. When it comes to villans I prefer to humanize them and offer redemption. Total demonization of a character creates something that is hard to relate to. But that's just what I personally believe.**_

* * *

**"Takeoff"**

Ozpin stood on stage and began his speech.

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly 80 years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom. But about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. As you are well aware that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity. Through diversity. As I've said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it."

As he spoke, large screens began to appear on either side of the rotunda.

"As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress, on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best." Ozpin left the stage as the room full of first-years appluaded the headmaster.

* * *

"Well team, what sounds good to you?" Spencer's deep voice carried far despite the clamor and uproar of students trying to get their preferred first assignments.

Lily raised her hand to speak so her teammates wouldn't talk over her. "We should see if any villages need our help."

"I wanna pummel some sodding grimm," Aaron said with one of his guitar picks in his teeth.

"Yeah," Evan added, "Search and Destroy sounds good to me." Evan hadn't told anyone about his altercation with Cinder the night before this day and he just wanted nothing more than to destroy large swathes of Grimm. There was a thunderstorm trapped inside him and he needed to let it out. A Grimm attack would be perfect.

"Well that's two votes for Search and Destroy," said Spencer, "Lily, we'll look at the village requests first and see if anything satisfies your desire to help people and their need for mindless violence."

Lily laughed and smiled meekly. The group made their way to the village requests board. They looked and looked but most were "Disaster Relief" or "Bandit Defense". Anything involving Grimm was redirected to Search and Destroy and that terminal was crowded. But there was a terminal labeled "Top Secret" that had drawn a larger crowd. Team after team tried to register but each time it said that there was an error. Teams were beginning to line up and try their luck at getting past the error code.

"If its top secret why would they be offering it us firsties?" Aaron crossed his arms in suspicion as he watched team after team fail to sign in. "I don't think its a real mission. Otherwise they wouldn't be broadcasting something that's 'TOP SECRET' to a bunch of firsties. Its a load of gobshite if ya ask me."

"Well, I don't think it would hurt to try," Lily raised her quite voice just enough so Aaron could hear her. The noise from the large crowd of students was upsetting her sensitive ears.

"Ehh, i guess we could give it a go."

Spencer nodded in accord with his teammates' decision and looked over to Evan who simply shrugged. The hulking team leader made his way through the crowd of firsties and tapped the mission icon.

**"Please input Team name." **Was what the screen said as a holo-keyboard appeared. Spencer typed in SEAL's letters and tapped the register button, fully expecting an error message to appear. However, another message appeared entirely.

**"Registration Accepted! Further details will be sent to your scrolls. Good Luck Team SEAL!"**

As soon as the holo-screen disappeared and the other teams all dispersed to find other mundane missions, the scrolls of each member of Team SEAL buzzed with the same notification telling them to report to an aircraft bearing the tail-ID **A5-L014**. The message said nothing about where the said craft was parked. Spencer frowned at this prime example of vagueness. "Wow, they don't even give a description of what the plane looks like. How the hell are we gonna find it out there?"

"Here's a hint," said Evan, "It's probably not a battleship."

"No shit."

* * *

"Ugggghhhh Spenc, it's been like an hour, and we still haven't found it. I'm telling you, either they flew off without us or it just doesn't exist." Aaron was still sceptical that this secret mission was even a real mission.

"One, it's only been like 20 minutes. And two, we still haven't seen all the mission-ready planes. Its here, I'm sure of it. Just be patient." Spencer kept his scroll in front of him with the tail ID pulled up as a reference as he checked each plane.

Finally after 10 more minutes of searching they came across a Spearhead VTOL with Atlas colors bearing the Tail ID A5-L014. Spencer checked his scroll to see if this was indeed the aircraft they were to report to and sure enough it was.

"Well I wasn't expecting this. I guess we're going somewhere pretty far away." Spencer dropped his gear and stretched in subconscience preperation of a long flight.

"Pretty far," Evan dropped his gear and did the same, "One of these can cross an ocean."

Evan's ears were suddenly filled with the sounds of running footsteps coming from behind him. "EEEEEVVVVVAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!"

His eyes widened at this voice and he braced himself. Soon after a woman with bright ginger hair jumped on his back and wrapped her limbs around him. "I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too, now can you please get off me? You know this isn't good for my back."

"Hmmph, fine." The red-haired woman jumped off Evan's back and hugged him extremelly tight as he turned around to face him. She seemed completely uneffected by his Static semblance. After a few minutes she finally let go and turned to face the rest of Team SEAL. Her curly orange hair nearly stretched down to her elbows. Her face was lightly freckled and her pale blue-green eyes sparkled in the light. She wore a blue denem jacket without sleeves over a black tank-top that showed off her well toned abs. Her jacket was covered in patches from past missions and concerts. She also wore torn jean shorts that stopped mid thigh. She also wore knee-high black combat boots that had holstered Jackhammer shotguns on the outsides of her legs.

"Well, aren't you gonna introduce me to your teammates?"

"Right, Nikki, this is Lily Fotia, Aaron Khan, but we call him 'AK', and our Team leader Spencer Gurin." The three of them bowed respectfully as they were introduced. "And guys, this is Nikki Vermillion. 'S'-Ranked Huntress, Colonel in the Atlesian Special Forces, and my older sister."

There was silence for a few minutes before Lily finaly spoke.

"I'm sorry, your what?"

* * *

_**Author's Note: Sorry it was another month before I got this out, but Hey, at least I'm publishing, right? I'll try to get the next one out sooner. Please leave a review to tell me what you think!**_


	23. Chapter 23: Briefing

"I told you, she's my sister."

"And how come this never came up before you sodding idiot?" Aaron wore an exasperated look on his face.

"It... never came up."

"IT NEVER CAME UP? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? That's something most normal blokes would open with during introductions."

Nikki pouted and turned away from everyone else. "I can't believe my sweet baby brother didn't tell his teamates about his own sister. Hmphh, just wait till the others hear about this." At this Aaron's jaw literally dropped.

"OTHERS?!" Lily winced from the shouting.

"Oh yeah!" Nikki pulled her scroll out from seemingly nowhere and pulled up a picture. The other memebers of Team SEAL quickly gathered around the huntress to see what she had pulled up while Evan stood by his bag paralyzed by embarassment. She had pulled up a photo of Evan's induction into the Atlesian Royal Air Force Academy. He stood in the middle of the picture looking extremely uptight in his military uniform. Nikki wore an outfit similar to the one she currently had on. She was hugging Evan's arm very tightly with an enormous smile on her face. Behind them stood three other people. One was a taller woman who looked as though see was carved out of marble with dark hair and bangs that completely covered the right side of her face. She stood on a higher step than the others and had her arms folded around Evan's neck with a gentle smile on her face, which rested on top of his head. Her outfit was blocked by Evan's figure. The other figure was a large man with short hair and an incredibly bushy beard. He wore a neatly pressed suit jacket with a red tie for the formal occasion. Despite his domineering appearance, he wore a very relaxed posture. He smiled gently in the picture and his hand was on Evan's shoulder.

"Are these all your siblings?" Lily asked with an extremely curious look on her face.

"Yuppers! Evan's the youngest, then there's me, then our older brother Adam Antine, and the oldest is Whitney White! Our family name is actually Zyschneel, but we all use our middle names." "SO THAT'S WHAT THE 'Z' STANDS FOR IN EVAN'S NAME!" Lily stood up excitedly and ran over to Evan and began to annoy him for attention, her tail wagging wildly. "I had no idea you had such a huge family! We can we meet them all?"

Evan just looked down at her and smiled. "When you learn how to calm down." He put his hand between her ears and tussled her hair while she did nothing but pout.

"I'm not a child you know."

"Yes, I know."

While the five of them were still laughing in front of the VTOL, three men stepped out from the craft.

"Excuse me ma'am, but I do believe we have a schedule to keep. So I suggest we take off as soon as possible."

Evan recognized the voice as his former Commanding Officer, Sargent Glenn Rose. He wore the same armor as every other soldier from Atlas but what distinguished him was the ginger beard that stuck out on his face.

"Yes, you are correct Sargent. Everyone, if you would please stow your things on board and take your seats. We really should be leaving soon." Nikki quickly turned away from the others and walked away with a sway to her hips that said 'I fucking dare you not to look'. Aaron actually tripped because of where his eyes were glued. Lily merely walked past her boyfriend. She said something under her breath, but Aaron couldn't hear it.

* * *

Spearheads usually only carry a crew of three opperatives and then a small unit of about 12 drones. So there was plenty of room for all five of the Huntsmen and Huntresses. They all took their seats. Lily and Aaron sat together on the right-side of the aircraft while Spencer, Evan, and Nikki all sat on the left-side. Evan sat near the cockpit, presumably to look out the windows. Nikki sat right next to him so she could smother her little brother. Which meant Spencer had the rest to himself and that suited him just fine.

The pilots did their final pre-flight checks and the craft lifted off immediately with little delay. Everything not strapped in was sent flying backwards as the craft broke through Vale's airspace and Ironwood's fleet. Evan felt his scroll buzz in his coat's pocket and he checked it. The whole team had gotten the same message:

"**Miss Vermillion has the details to your mission. Safe journey- Ozpin" **

The Spearhead began to slow down as it crested the clouds and leveled out at it's cruising altitude of 11,000ft. Nikki left her seat and stood in the doorway to better address the fledgling Hunters.

"Ahemm, now then, as you may know, this mission is considered Top Secret. Upon completion and return to Vale, no one on this aircraft shall speak a word of what transpires from her on out through word of mouth, social media, print, or otherwise. To do so will guarantee your dismissal from Beacon Academy and minimum of 30 years in jail for Treason and Endangering National Security." If Nikki didn't have their attention before, she certainly had it now. "That being said, you four were chosen from the rest of your classmates because of your unique experience with Grimm. While it is true that teams RWBY and JNPR have a bigger killstreak than y'all, they do not have the experience we are looking for."

Lily raised her hand to speak, "But we only ever fought an Ursa and that Mastodon/Goliath-elephant thing. How exactly does that qualify us for an S-ranked mission?"

"Sweetie, I have done extensive research into 'Unique Grimm' across Remnant. Your classmates have merely fought standard local species while you took on something that wasn't supposed to be there. And that is why I have chosen you four. If we knew what to expect, I would have chosen either RWBY, or JNPR, or maybe even SSSN, but SEAL has the most experience with 'the unexpected'. That is why I've selected you. Now, onto the mission details:

For several months we have been tracking a high value target that is embedded within a small faction of the White Fang. The target has been code-named, 'BlackBird'. From our gathered intel, we know the target is not offically a member of The White Fang yet commands a large amount of respect/fear among her associates. Yes, the target is female and supposedly a human for she does not possess any faunus traits or behaviors. Now a human/White Fang collaborator is enough to warrant some form of investigation. However, BlackBird is considered incredibly dangerous."

Just then, info packets were streamed to everyone's scrolls. Spencer opened his file and started leafing through the reports. Apparently this was not the first time she was targeted by the kingdoms. There were reports going back at least 10 years. Convoy attacks, assassinations, heists, and even Grimm attacks. What got Spencer thinking was that these reports came from literally all over Remnant. There would be one sighting of her in Vacuo and then days later she'd be in Mistral. Nobody knew how she did it and they certainly never knew where she'd pop up next. Until now at least. He continued looking through the reports while Nikki continued her briefing.

"A few months ago some of our Whisper drones captured footage of a single water craft landing on the southeastern coast of the Absolation region of the continent southwest of Atlas that we simply call, 'The Wastes'. The region was home to some of the most devastating fighting during the great war. Many areas were shelled into oblivion; without so much as a house standing with four walls. There were few to no survivors but the feelings of fear, hate, and hopelessness still linger. It has been labelled a 'No-Fly Zone' because of the concentration of Grimm. Believe me, these are Grimm that are not to be trifled with."

Nikki looked up at the others and all their eye's were wide open and scared. Nikki laughed for a few minutes before putting her tablet away.

"Don't worry guys, you are in the presence of a professional huntress, you'll be okay! Besides, you are important friends of my darling little brother, I won't let anything happen to you all. Just have faith in your own abilities and eachother. Now, are there any questions?"

* * *

**_Stay tuned all you beautiful bastards! _**


	24. Chapter 24: Trouble Aloft

_**Author's Note: I want to apologize for the ubruptness of the end of the last chapter. These things get dragged out over periods of months before I eventually just get fed up and try to rush something. Well that's why it seemed so rushed at the end. So, time to continue.**_

* * *

Spencer continued to leaf through the mission dosiers Nikki had given them all. It had been several hours since she had given her briefing. While she had explained some aspects of their mission, he couldn't help but feel like she was leaving out some crucial details. _It's amzing how much the world's strongest military doesn't know about their intended targets. Who am I kidding? The probably know 'BlackBird's Blood Type. I bet it's something weird, like O- or something. _Spencer closed is scroll to give his eyes a rest and he now realized how quite the cabin was, save for the mufffled roar of the engines that were burning full-blast. Lily was asleep with her head on Aaron's shoulder and her tail draped over their laps. Evan was catching up with his former commanding officer while Nikki, his older sister and the highest ranked person on the aircraft, was curled into a ball asleep with her head on Evan's lap like a little kid who stayed up too late. _That's cute. _

* * *

"I'm sorry we couldn't catch up over that drink you mentioned in your message," Evan had his signature coat off while he was talking with his old mentor and Nikki was using it as a blanket.

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you," Cpt. Rose reached into one of the pockets on his uniform and produced a silver flask, "I think Ironwood has been rubbing off on me. You know he was the one that called for my promotion." Rose unscrewed the flask's lid and it fell to the side. He took a drink and struggled to swallow the hard liquor as he passed it off to Evan. He reached out for the flask and a small bolt arced from his fingers to the metal container before his fingers were around it securly.

"How's that going by the way? Getting a grip on your semblance?"

"Ha, sorta. I've pretty much mastered all of it's workings however, I cannot stop discharging becausing I can't stop charging. Every twitch, every heartbeat, everytime a single cell moves in my body, it all creates electricity." Evan paused to take a drink and nearly choked on the liquor inside. "What the fuck is this shit? It tastes like gasoline and sugar."

Rose couldn't help but laugh, "haha you like it? Triple Distilled Vacuo Rum aged in a cedar barrel for 10 years. 80_lien_ per bottle. Consider it a gift from the general.:"

"It feels almost as bad as it tastes," Evan clutched his stomach before taking another big swing.

"Hey, go easy on that stuff."

"Don't tell me what to do." Evan handed Rose his flask back and they both laughed.

"Well son, i sure am glad to see you doing well here. You would have made one hell of a pilot, but I think you make a better huntsmen."

"That means a lot coming from you sir."

"Please," Rose scoffed, "I don't command you any more, use my name ya sod," he took another drink and grimaced as he forced the rum down his throat.

"Yes sir, Glenn."

Both of them smiled and continued to talk into the night.

* * *

Lily began to wake up slowly. Something had broken her from her dreams and she began to look around the craft for the source. She could hear the two pilots talking to each other but she was still not quite 100% awake yet so she couldn't quite hear what they were saying exactlly. She sat upright from Aaron's lap and stretched her arms and lightly slapped her face with both hands. After a moment she was more awake and she began to survey her surroundings. First she used her eyes. Her faunus eye's quickly adjusted to the dim lighting of the cabin. She looked at everyone with a robot like focus. All her teamates were asleep in one form or another. Evan struggled in his seat, he was clearly asleep but his body kept trying to find a comfortable spot. And inspite of this, his sister was out cold on his lap. Lily looked at the two and wondered if maybe they had woken her. She shook her head, no, she thought. It had to be something else. Her attention was then turned to her sense of smell. Being a wolf faunus this was her main weapon other than her beloved sword.

She closed her eyes and began to smell the air. _Liquor, vinyl fabric, leather, steel, denim, gunpowder, ozone, exhaust, Evan's scent, Spencer's scent, Aaron's scent_. She maticulously went over a mental list of the different scents she could identify. Then something caught her attention. She silently crept onto the floor and began crawling towards the cockpit. She kept her eyes closed in order to focus on her other senses. Her face quickly wrinkled as she caught the scent of a really strong perfume or body spray. It was a shock to her systems and she couldn't identify the exact source. She poured all her focus into her nose and she cut through the perfume smell and identified what had awoken her. Both the pilots didn't smell like humans to her instead they had a powerful ape-like musk hidden under the strong body spray. Scent is heavily tied to memory and this sparked something in her head. She had heard of a set of Triplets within the White Fang that were expert infultators. Chimpanzees and humans share almost 92% of the same genome and Atlas imploys genetic scanners all over Remnant. Their Chimp Faunus DNA would fool the scanners into thinking that they were human. And here were two of them, flying everyone to who knows where. They could have changed course in the night.

_This is bad,_ Lily thought to herself, _I have to tell the others. Spencer would know what to do. He'd be really tactical about the situation. Evan and Aaron would probably kill those two instantly. No, I should tell Nikki. She's in charge here. _Lily quitely lept to her feet and froze for a moment in case the two infultators had heard something. They didn't and she crept over to where Nikki was snoring and drooly into her brother's lap. Lily put her hand on the huntress's shoulder and began to shake her awake.

"Ma'am, Ma'am wake up," Lily said in her quittest whisper.

"Ughhh, Lily? What's wrong sweetheart?" Nikki yawned deeply before opening her eyes.

"We've got a problem."


	25. Chapter 25: Reactions Aloft

"What kind of trouble are we talking about here sweetie?" Nikki was still groggy from being awoken abruptly by a nervous Lily and she slowly rose up from Evan's lap.

"Have you ever heard of the Simian triplets?"

"Yeah, they're a group of White Fang infiltrators who can fool any DNA scanner on Remnant. What about them?"

"I think two of them are our pilots right now. I woke up and I could smell them. The didn't smell human at all. They smelled like apes," Lily's nose wrinkled as she remembered the smell.

"Well who am I to argue with the nose of a wolf?" Nikki rubbed Lily between her ears and Lily blushed slightly. "You did good, but now we need to figure out how to proceed."

Nikki quietly sat up and rolled her shoulders. She turned to Evan and began to shake him awake. He groaned slightly and his eyes slowly began to open. Nikki gestured for him to be quiet and, sensing that something was wrong,, he sat straight up. In response to his quickened heart-beat, the tattoo on his arm began to glow brighter and the Spearhead's cabin became dimly lit. Nikki whispered to him, "The pilots up front are not who they say they are. I'm gonna take them out. When I do, I want you to take the controls and keep us level. At least until Cpt. Rose or I can releave you."

Evan nodded and reached for his insulated gloves. Nikki stood up and removed a shell from one of her shotguns. She pulled the brass cap off and two metal slugs rolled out into her palm. She reholstered her gun and focused her aura into the two metal balls.

The slugs began to vibrate as they became surrounded by a faint purple glow. They slowly rose up in the air and floated at eye level. Her hands gripped the air around the slugs and she began to stretch them into long, sharp needles. She retracted her aura from the now needles and they dropped into her hands. She gripped the ends and prepared to throw them. She nodded to Evan and Lily.

Her arm came back and released both needles with just enough force for them to silently speed towards their targets. Each needle pierced through the armor of both pilots and embedded into their spines; blocking the signals from their brains to their bodies. They fell limp and began to curse and question what was happening. Lily and Evan ran into the cockpit, removed them from their seats, and Evan took the controls just as the VTOL began to dip its nose downward. All his flight training came back to him like a divine spark and he effortless gained control of the shuddering aircraft again.

Lily's small frame struggled to pull back the two imposters but she managed to get them out of the cockpit. At this point they were waking everyone else up with their constant questioning and swearing.

"What the hell is going on here?" Rose sat up surprised at the fact that his pilots were paralized and being drug out of the cockpit. "Who's flying?"

"We've got Evan up there at the controls. Its only temporary," Nikki walked over to the two pilots and tore their helmets off. Both of them had army-shaved heads and bright yellow eyes. Their five o'clock shadows were coming in strong and their white skin seemed to glow from the low lights. "Who do you serve?" Nikki was yelling now, "the jig is up, you might as well tell us. We're over 25,000ft over the ocean and over 1,000 miles from land. You're outnumbered and paralyzed, so fucking talk!"

"Miss Vermillion," Lily's voice sounded concerned and lightly frightened, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine sweetie, I'm just great!" Nikki was becoming increasingly violent and emotional. She lifted her foot up to stomp one of the pilots. Her eyes were burning blue just like her brother when he gets emotional.

Spencer looked on, unsure whethor or not to intervene. _I guess the eyes run in the family. _

Nikki brought her boot down into the bottom of the main pilot's ribcage and he cried out as two of his ribs broke upon impact. The needles were still imbedded in their necks so he could not move to get away. Lily looked surprised as she witnessed the huntress' brutality but in the end she was unsympathetic to the faunus on the floor. She hated the White Fang and didn't care what happened to them one way or another. Nikki could shoot them both in the head, splattering their brains all over the fuselage, and she wouldn't even blink.

Nikki prepared to stomp the copilot this time but she was stopped when Evan yelled from the cockpit, "THAT'S ENOUGH NICOLE!"

Her eye's snapped back to their normal powder blue and she began to calm. Still angry, she backed off her furious assualt and sat down on the benches. "You motherfuckers are gonna tell us everything or else we will throw you into the ocean where your corpses will feed the sharks. Now then, I'm all ears."

* * *

_**Author's Note: Yes, I know it's been a while since I last updated. But between work, school, and just life in general it has been increasingly hard to sit down and write this. I haven't given up on Grimm Horizon, but as of right now (5/31/2017), I'm placing it on hold. I love this story, I love these charaters, and I love writing it, but i've just reached a creative blockade. I have ideas on where to take it, but I haven't figured out how to get ther. Ya know? So I'm taking a break from Grimm Horizon. Don't worry, like I said, this isn't the end of the story, it's just a break. Meanwhile though, I will be writing another story called Ace Combat: Outlander. Please check it out, and thanks once again for your patience and support 3**_


End file.
